


The Dragon's Flame

by Uchuu



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Magic, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Dragons, Elemental Magic, F/F, Jaspidot - Freeform, Motherhood, Non-Human Genitalia, Past Character Death, Pregnancy, Reincarnation, Sex, Soulmates, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2017-07-27
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:24:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 31,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6557200
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Uchuu/pseuds/Uchuu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peridot wants more than the life she has now. Her family was gone and the group of hunters that took her in were less than trustworthy.  The only things she feels that she can trust are the dreams and the creature beckoning her into the woods.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The energy was building up inside of her, building and building until it came out of her. Claws pressing into her skin, down to the flesh until the zip and zap of the power was pouring out from her. She was in no state to fight off the creature below her, the one pressing deep kisses and nips against her mouth and skin. If she had any thoughts of her own she would think about dying in this creature’s arms and the eternal bliss she may obtain. 

It was always over as quickly as it started. She always found herself leaving the creature behind and traveling back out of the woods she became so accustomed to. Heading for town and back to the abandoned building she and the others called home. It had been right near the edge where the woods started and always so good for hunting or gathering ingredients for spells and other necessities. The insides weren't as bad as the outside but she never made her way inside on these trips back. Always stopped in the middle of the grass and rubble filled field in front of her home and always slept there.

“Peridot?” She hears a voice call her name and it the sound starts to wake her from the dream she is having. She can still feel the fire surrounding her, feeling the heat burn at her skin. It wasn't painful but rather comforting and someone wakes her from it.

She feels the hands grabbing at her shoulders to pull her up from the ground, brushing grass, leaves and bits of rocks from her skin. “Pearl?” She asks hesitantly, finding no solace in her memories. 

The woman helps her up, offers a shoulder to help walk and bring her inside. She's starting to remember things slowly, the curve of the stairs that leads to their rooms and the main entrance full of old books and desks. She remembers the place being an old library but doesn't remember anything outside of that. The upstairs has bedrooms and even a kitchen as if it were remodeled for a large family to live. Then she remembers it was for her and remembers the hunters who took her in. 

Peridot manages to move on her own, leaving Pearl's empathetic embrace. Upstairs was the same as ever, organized and clean—always Pearl's doing—but there had been things in places they didn't belong. A duffel bag on the table filled with weapons, blankets scrunched up on the couch and a first aid kit laying on top of them. Something had happened in the time she was gone and Peridot can't reach back far enough into her memories to remember. 

“This is the third time this week,” Pearl starts as she moves past the doors into the kitchen, Peridot following far behind. 

There's another woman in the kitchen who is finishing applying stitches to herself over the sink. Pearl aids her for just a moment, helping her clean up before turning on the kettle on top of the stove. “Can you grab Garnet?” She asks the woman and she nods before leaving the room.

“What happened?” Peridot asks before sitting down at the table. 

“Oh, that? Garnet's been helping train the younger hunters and there were some injuries. I came to find you to see if you could help but Garnet warned against it. Said they needed to build thicker skin...Something like that.” Pearl chuckles, grabbing cups from the cabinet and setting them onto the table. “You have scratches on your shoulder...I know they'll heal but I wasn't sure if you had felt them.” 

Peridot moves to sit up straighter, her hand roaming aimlessly over her shoulder, and pressing against the skin until her fingertips meet at the marks. She winces from the slight burn of the touch and drops her hand back into her lap. “It's fine. It'll heal.” 

“Are you okay? You've been acting so strange these past few weeks.” 

“I'm fine. Just having issues sleeping.” 

“Ever since we defeated that pack, interesting. Are you sure the spell you performed didn't have any adverse effects?”

“It was a simple spell. Anyone could have done it, even a hunter like yourself.” Peridot bites back, feeling frustrated at the line of questioning already. 

“I see."

Peridot watches Pearl from the chair. She's moving from the fridge to the stove and back to the table in swift motions. Watching her fight was like watching a grand performance but so was watching her move around the house. Peridot turns around when the back door of the kitchen opens and another woman appears. She's tall and built so differently than Pearl and when comes into the room she presses a kiss to Pearl's lips and takes a seat at the table. Peridot's eyes follows this motion, and they go back to Pearl who comes to the table with the kettle to pour drinks. 

There's silence for a while. Peridot watches the steam from her drink before putting a hand over it, “frīgus,” she speaks softly, watching the heat from her tea vanish and she picks it up to drink. 

“What happened to you?” Garnet asks and Peridot looks at her. 

“I don't know.” She lowers her head, setting the cup down and wrapping her fingers around the cool cup. 

“If you didn't want tea, I could have gotten you something else.” Pearl interrupts after noticing the frost building at the top of the cup.

“It's easier this way.” Peridot pushes the chair back and brings the cup with her as she stands, “I don't know what's happening. I'm going to be downstairs though and I'll look in my book and see if I can check any other resources. Don't bother me unless you need something.” She leaves the kitchen and heads back downstairs, her feet making the floorboards squeak in the process. 

“Garnet...” Pearl folds her arms against her chest. 

“Leave her be.” 

“She's changed so much since this sleepwalking started. It's almost as if she's a completely different person.” 

“We also killed her family. We have some responsibility to take care of her for what we did.” 

Pearl sighs, “I know.” She thinks back to when she and Peridot knew each other in school. They were such good friends and each other’s main competition when it came to academics. Peridot used to be lively and such a know it all but she changed. Not just the death of her adoptive mother but knowing her own sister had been involved. It was a mess and it was a mess that Pearl and Garnet got involved in and wanted to clean up.

“Check on her in an hour. I'm going out with Amethyst.”

“What's going on, Garnet?” 

“I heard that there were some women missing in the next town over. They're all blonde with blue-green eyes and a certain height.” 

“Peridot.”

Garnet nods, “but they were all returned and none of them were harmed. I don't know if this has anything to do with her but if it does...I don't know what it is. We're going to investigate and interview the women and see if we can figure anything out.” 

“But, they were only taken once. Peridot's been gone multiple times over the past...” Pearl tries to count the times in her head but can't, “I don't even know how long. I just think it's the stress of everything that's happened to her. She doesn't sleep well from it and when she does I find her in strange places. Outside in front of the building or in the woods, the kitchen table, the bath tub in water, and even stranger places.”

“Well if you want to figure out what all of those places have in common.” Garnet moves the chair back to stand up, “we'll be back tonight or tomorrow. I'll call if I find anything.” She presses a kiss to Pearl's cheek before leaving. 

Peridot's listening from downstairs. A simple few words in Latin and she can hear what the others are saying no matter where they are. It bothers her and she doesn't trust the others as much as she should. They took her in and helped her after the fight but they were also responsible for it happening. Then she remembers it's been two years since her family had been killed and she now finds it hard to concentrate on the books. 

She tries not to think about it, tries to recall the events from the nights she wakes in strange places. Looking through spells and mythology for any other reasoning. She thinks that it may be a demon and then tries to think of other creatures and Gods that kidnap women. Incubus, leshy, any type of shapeshifter, Baba Yaga, demons in general, vampires...She feels like she's running around in circles with her thoughts. She flips to another page, reading about Norse Gods just to get her mind off things. 

She's fine for a few minutes but feels herself beginning to drift off. It's in that feeling where she begins to hear a voice. She doesn't recognize the person speaking to her—although it sounds vaguely familiar—and it does her no good to try and figure out who it could be. The voice is warning her not to come just yet and to wait until the new moon to visit again. She can feel heat biting at her skin again, twisting and turning at her insides until she wakes back up with a scream which alerts Pearl who comes into the room.  
“What are you doing in here?” Pearl comes over to Peridot who is gripping a spot on her arm, hand covered in blood from the wound. “My God, what happened?” 

Peridot's in and out of it. She realizes she's laying on the bathroom floor—instead of the downstairs couch she had fallen asleep in—and she looks back at Pearl who is cleaning the blood off her arm and hand. Pearl's able to make out the outline of claw marks deep in her flesh as she beings to bandage the wound which is refusing to heal.

“What's going on?” A new voice speaks and Peridot has trouble figuring out who is who, the people speaking and the ones who came in the doorway to spectate. It doesn't matter to her and she simply slips back into her unconscious state. 

There's white when she wakes up again. The ceiling above her is dancing in white and glaring lights from the nearby window. There's a monitor beeping loudly in her ear, a needle pressed against the back of her hand and she feels so sore and so very tired. 

On top of it all, she's dirty. She's looking over her arms and hands and noticing dirt and blood as if she escaped and hooked herself back up? She's not sure what has happened, why she was in a hospital or what was happening to her but she wanted to get out of this place. 

“Ms. Diamond, I'm glad you're awake.” 

Peridot turns from the window to the doorway where the voice has come from. She's not sure what she's looking at or who...The only inkling was the tail and wings. The tail was thick with a pointed end, it dragged on the floor as the creature walked forward and its wings were so different than any creature Peridot had ever seen in person. They looked attached near the bottom of the back and closer to the thighs, such great surface that she wondered if they were built that way for speed and altitude. It didn't matter though, because the demon folded them away and began to come even closer until the creature was standing near the bed. 

“Finding a chance to meet with you is always hard.” The creature begins to speak and Peridot squints for a second, making out the double set of horns at the top of the creature’s head; one set higher than the others. “I wanted to wait but we're so connected. Those hunters are going to find me and are going to die trying to hunt me down...” The creature chuckles, pulling at the needle in Peridot's hand which comes out so easily with no pain. “Is this what you always dream about or is this recent?”

“Who are you?” It's the only thing Peridot can think of to ask. 

“My little witch doesn't remember? What are those hunters doing to you?” A hand reaches out to touch Peridot.  
“Jasper, stop!” She backs away from the creature, nearly falling off the bed in the process. Jasper? She asks herself as she looks at the creature again.  
“There it is. My name always sounds so nice coming from your mouth. I really think you should stop bringing me here. Visit me like I asked. New Moon, first of month.” The creature pulls away, walking back towards the hallway. “Now, do me a favor and wake up.”

Peridot wakes this time in her bed. Pearl is near the edge and setting a cup of tea down on a tray near the bed. Peridot lays buried in her covers, hands trailing over her skin to feel for any new wounds or bruises. She's clean this time and wonders if everything had been a dream to begin with. She can't recall her last true memory and wants guidance from Pearl but worries about the criticism. 

“I'm so glad you're awake.” Pearl speaks and Peridot turns to her, moving to lay on her side and burrowing herself even deeper into the blankets. “I think this is the longest you've ever been out for.” 

“What's today?” She asks, her voice feels heavy and her throat sore. 

 

“Last day of the month. Do you remember what happened?”

There it is, the question Peridot gets asked multiple times a week but at least once by everyone in the house. Do you remember what happened? What happened? Where were you? Why were you asleep outside? Are you okay? It was a never-ending barrage of the same questions repeatedly. Peridot found herself sick of it. 

“I take the silence as a no. I found you in the basement. Normally, we search the house before we go outside and you were on top of an old medical table in storage. I don't know how long you were there. What's the last thing you remember?” 

“How many times are we going to have this conversation?” Peridot groans. 

“I want to be able to help. You're the one with the powers here. There's nothing you can think of that would help make the sleepwalking or the nightmares stop?”

“It doesn't work that way, Pearl. I can't just whip up some potion and pretend everything is fine. Also, the last thing I remember is you and Garnet blaming yourselves for being stuck with me.” Peridot pushes her blankets off, moving from the bed and over to her closet before beginning to rummaging through items. “Then, I fell asleep and had a dream I was in a hospital and a dream I was injured on the bathroom floor while everyone was watching and you know what?” She's pulling off pajamas and changing into jeans and a simple shirt, wanting to get out of this place and wanting to visit the creature from her dreams. 

“I can't keep doing this. I get that you guys think you owe it to yourselves to take care of me but I'm an adult. I need my own space and I need you to stop worrying about me.” 

“Peridot.” Pearl simply says her name and walks around the bed to come closer, “witches aren’t the friendliest of creatures and we don't want other hunters or demons to come after you. It's not just that we feel responsible...We are responsible, your mother was trying to start a war and we stopped her.” 

“A lot of good that did.” 

“Look, I'll try to stop worrying so much about you. I just want to know if this is something physical that we might be able to fix or if it's related to your latent powers. I just want to help. Please, just let me help you.” 

“Okay...” She crosses her arms before walking back to the bed and sitting down with Pearl following her. “I've been having dreams but I don't remember them well enough. Sometimes someone speaks to me and I don't know who it is. I assume someone contacting me just to reach out to a witch.” 

“How long has this been happening?”

“The dreams have been recent,” she lied, “but I've always had trouble sleeping. I used to sleep walk when I was a kid and end up in the kitchen eating cereal out of a pot with a slotted spoon. I'm okay though and please don't apologize again.” 

“I wasn't going to! I mean, thank you...” 

“I'm going to go out and pick up some things at my old house. I'll try to be back tonight but if not I'll be here tomorrow.” 

“Okay. I'll let Garnet know.” 

“She's back?” 

“She's been back for days...You've been in and out of consciousness for nearly a week. It's why I thought it might have been a spell.” 

“No. It's definitely not that.” She grabs a pair of socks, sliding them on before locating her shoes in the corner of her room. “I'm trying to get to the bottom of this. I'll let you know if I find anything at the house.” 

“Okay, we can talk later. Just, please eat though before you leave.” Pearl speaks before leaving the room and leaving Peridot to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

Entering the woods was a mistake and Peridot knew that. Maybe it was the strange connection she felt to the creature visiting her or maybe she was hellbent on going on a suicide mission. Whatever the reason was, she made her way deep into the woods and the farther she went the worse she felt. There was something about the thickness in the air falling over her, as if it was poisonous for her to breathe.

Peridot didn't know what she was seeking in the woods. There was no sign of this creature and all she had to go on was the request the creature sent her. Nothing stood out to her and there was nothing to show for except the animals deep in the woods or the strange sound of growling she heard in the distance. It was just her and her trusty spells to keep her safe and the space around her lit so she could see.

All she wanted was to meet with this creature, to figure out what these dreams meant and figure out why she could never recall their memories from when they were together in the past.

Something suddenly grabs her, drags her away from the spot she's in and tucks her away in an embrace of gold, rubies and sapphires; mixtures of jewels and rich furs. Then there's Jasper, the creature she had seen in her dreams. The creatures’ eyes reflecting from the fire built up in the cave and glowing like amber.

“I thought it might be appropriate for you to come here yourself, instead of me sweeping you away every night. Sooner or later those damned hunters would have come here.” Devils above and angels below; there would be hell to pay if hunters ever found her.

“What do you want with me?” She asks, finding herself unable to properly move in the stacks of jewels she had been kneeling on. Even on this pile she found the creature's height rather intimidating.

“See, I knew you wouldn't remember. I knew it was risky but you've been coming to your senses; you even remembered my name.”

“Of course,” Peridot speaks, her voice coming out with almost with a hint of excitement, as if she knew the creature outside of her dreams and biweekly visits.  
The creature walks towards her and slowly reaches a hand out for her to take. Peridot does her best to stand up in the pile of coins. She's knocking a few down with her sudden movements and dusts off some of the ones stuck to her leg as she finally manages to stand.

“Come with me.” Jasper demands and Peridot hesitates at first. She pressed her thumb against the inner corner of her index finger and pressed to bend until they cracked and continues down to her ring finger. It gave her time to clear her mind and distract her before she reached out to take Jasper's hand.

The two move from the front cavern and walk deeper into the cave. Peridot finds a trail of gems that grows weaker as they walk further. Now there are furs, bottles of assorted colors and piles of armory laid out across the cavern floor but Jasper ushers Peridot to sit on a pile of furs and joins her close by.  
“What do you think?” Jasper asks, a look of impatience covering her face as she waits for an answer.

“This is amazing.” Peridot still finds herself distract by the hundreds of different items. She can see small vials with strange liquids inside of them, weapons cracked and broken and even coins and gems stuck in crevices of the walls, “I've never been here before or have I?”

“Not in this life, correct. I just hope you pray to the Gods that this won't be your last time here either.” Jasper reaches a hand forward to pull Peridot closer until she's in the creatures’ lap. Pressing a kiss to her temple and then down to her lips. Peridot finds a strange comfort in Jasper. It feels natural and good; as if they have been together a thousand of times before.

The light kisses turn into a tongue pressing against her own and then into deep bites over languid licks over her skin. Claws begin tearing at the fabric of her clothes in desperation to get them off. She brings the witch back down onto the furs, slips a hand in between her thighs and dips and crooks her fingers inside. Two and then three, pushing in deeply and stretching her until she can properly take Jasper's cock inside of her.

It's quicker and messier then Peridot remembers—as she starts to remember—but the feel of Jasper inside of her is like sweet torture. She cannot remember the last time she had felt so good...So pleased. The way her voice came out in breathless pleas and whimpers were sure a sign of such.

She spends more time with the creature and learns things that she had not in her dreams. Jasper was a fallen dragon and thousands of years old. Someone who battled in wars and even part of a dark army in her past life. Peridot didn't ask many questions, only tried to expand on what the dragon was willing to share with her. They spent so much time together that Peridot's sure she's lost track of it. She's sure morning has come and night was beginning to approach. There was thunder and rain echoing into the cavern halls and Peridot wonders if the others will worry and come look for her.

“I need to go.” Peridot speaks as she lays against the fine furs, Jasper's lips pressing and leaving marks—only to heal within seconds—against her skin. She doesn't want to leave, she wants to lie with the dragon who has come to her and sought her out as her mate.

“The hunters will be looking for you.” Jasper lazily rolls over top of Peridot, lips finding solace against her skin.

“They will hurt you...Or try to. I don't really know how to kill a dragon.” Peridot tries to sit up but Jasper pushes her back down and bites her way down Peridot's chest. “I need to go, Jasper.”

“One more time, humor me.” She chuckles, hands sliding to Peridot's thighs and pushing them up towards her chest. “Also, it's very difficult to kill me. Lore hasn't even gotten it right. Myths about cutting off limbs but I can in fact regenerate quite well...If not gruesomely.” Jasper pauses with a breathy chuckle, “hope I'm not ruining the mood.”  
“I've seen and heard worse. My family tried to start a war...I had to deal with demons and witches and their covens almost daily.”

“Now you deal with hunters? Pathetic.”

“They killed my family and took me. I knew I was a witch but I never had any powers until she died. She stole them from me and they were given back after her death. They felt responsible. They wanted me to help them fight demons and I wanted to survive another ten years. It was a decent trade.”

“A witch like you is immortal. You don't need those silly hunters.” Jasper leans down to kiss Peridot, slipping herself back into her warmth and earning a deep moan from the woman. “You have yourself and you have me.”

This was different than the times they've had sex in the day prior or the few bits and pieces Peridot remembered from her dreams and past meetings with the dragon. She was beginning to fuck her in a frantic fervor and Peridot only offered to wrap her legs high against Jasper's back. There were claws digging into her flesh until they could draw blood and leave scars. She can feel every thrust so deep inside of her, each time plunging in like she never wanted to leave.

Peridot tries not to lose focus, keeps her arms now wrapped around Jasper and keeps her pulled down to kiss her. Do anything to try soothe and comfort the roughness of the sex this time. Even then she still finds herself brought to orgasm with ease and Jasper filling her up so much that she's leaking fluid by the time she pulls out from her.  
Jasper gives her a new set of clothing—Peridot refuses to ask where she had gotten them from—and redresses. Leaving shortly after that.

She makes her way through the woods with a spell to cast the rain from blurring her vision. She heads to her old house before heading home. She wants to do some sort of research and possibly turn the others away from Jasper and the idea that there are dragons so close to their city.

Her old house is still standing but abandoned. It's a nice-looking house in the middle of the city and in a rich little neighborhood. Some of the others have greeted her before heading back into their houses for the night. Peridot assumes they're just confused about why she's there after so much time has passed. Why no one has put the house up for sale or removed any other belongings. Peridot assumes a lot of things about her neighbors and always has.

She gets inside through the back entrance and things look to be in the same condition as when she lived there, minus the dust. Her own bedroom was empty. She had taken everything when the others offered to take her in. She remembers her reasoning being she didn't want to stay behind in an empty house where close to thirty people had been murdered in. She was also afraid of other demons possibly coming for her or for something left behind in the house. Her mother always had a lot of secrets.

Her mother's office is where she heads. It's right off the entrance of the back door and it's where she spent most of her time. It has a desk with a computer near the back of the room, two large windows which lead out into the backyard and bookshelves upon bookshelves to line the walls. There wasn't much Peridot hadn't looked through—it was where she discovered some of the magic books she owned now—a lot of the shelves had been picked at by her and the others in the past. Books were laid out in piles on the desk and a few stacks on the floor.

Peridot sets her bag down, picks a book up and takes a seat at the chair behind the desk. She puts her feet up and begins reading, “The Electrical Conductivity of Aqueous Solutions.” She makes a face at the book she picked up but begins to read it anyway. It's not what she was hoping to pick and after twenty minutes she grabs another book about electricity. She's confused mostly. These books seemed to be about electrical conduct and she had never seen a pattern before until now. She starts calling out random words—in Latin about lightning and electricity—until something happens, but nothing ever does.

She groans, spinning in the chair for just a moment as she thinks, “Fulgurite…?” She questions aloud, sighing after nothing happened.

She gets up from the chair and begins to rummage through the books again. There were maps and history books and some were about modern witchcraft while others were about witch trials. She remembers her mother being so adamant about not going into her room or looking through her things. Remembering getting into so much trouble as a child for roaming around in places she wasn't supposed to.

She's looking at a book when she hears a faint hiss and pop of something opening behind her. It's a bookshelf horizontal to the chair she had been sitting on. She sets the book in her hand down and moves to the small opening, pulling the shelf open more and looking beyond it. There are simply more books, with a shelf full of scrolls and maps across the wall. The books have strange leather backings, some of them look to be gold and others blood red.

Peridot investigates for a while, pulling books from the shelf that look to be of interest to her and puts them away in her bag. She's done in the place for now. Sealing the shelf back up before leaving this old house for one of her own.

She spends the next few weeks looking over the books she has recovered from her mother's library. They're in different languages that Peridot can only understands pieces of them and even finds herself trying to find a spell to understand the language. In the end, she realizes that she could go to Jasper and ask for help but every time she went to Jasper it would be risky for her. The dragon could not be killed by easy means but it didn't embrace the idea of hunters coming after her in the first place. She wonders if the dragon could be safe outside of the cave she laid dormant.

This was the new problem Peridot was having, distracted by her obsessive thoughts about the dragon. They were connected and she knew that but the bond they had was so different and so dreadfully annoying when she tried to sleep. Constantly being visited by her or dragging herself from her own bed to head out into the woods only to be pulled into her arms and fucked.

Focusing was becoming increasingly hard for her and she tossed the books on the floor before leaving her bedroom and heading into the kitchen. Her bedroom was right around the corner from the kitchen and Pearl had been in there like she normally was, making something to eat or cleaning. Outside of hunting—which was quieter these days—she tried to live a normal life...As normal as she could make it.

“Hey, Pearl.” Peridot walks past her to the fridge, grabbing a drink from inside and moving to sit down at the table.

“What are you doing up so early?”

“What?” Peridot asks before checking the time on the microwave and noticing it was a little before four in the morning, “oh...I was reading.”

“Still looking at those books, I see. Find anything interesting in them?”

“Do you know what a mandragora is?” She asks as she opens the bottle in her hand and takes a sip.

“Vaguely. They start off as dolls or figures and they're given to sorcerers but they're demons. Why?”

“I was reading about them. Golem, imps, homunculus, just trying to catch up for the past twenty-five years of not knowing I was a witch.”  
“Do you want something to eat?” Pearl redirects the conversation for just a moment.

“Oh, I can't eat anything I really feel like I'm going to barf if do.” She shifts uncomfortably in the chair before taking another swig from the water.  
“Okay...You know those books sound really interesting. Maybe you'll let me look at them one day?”

“Just the books about the creatures. The ones with spells stay with me because I know you, Pearl, you're not a witch but you're too interested in spells and magic for your own good.” She sighs, “you know there are natural born witches like myself and those who obtain their power through practice, if there's any of that spark in them in the first place. You're one of those people.  
”  
“I just want to help you. I don't know why I have to tell you every single time you're suspicious of my intent.”

“You killed my mother, Pearl.”

“She's was going to destroy the entire city. Kill everyone and everything in its path and you're so worried about the fact that we did it but about what we saved.”

“I'm just so sick of having this conversation with you. I don't care about what you saved or what you prevented.” Peridot stands up from the chair and feels a sudden wave of nausea over her as she gets up. She clings back to the table.

“Are you okay?” It's always Pearl's first instinct to make sure people are okay in signs of injury or sickness. She can't help coming to Peridot's aid even after an argument.  
“I'm fine...Don't...” She pulls away from Pearl but begins to walk with a stagger, dropping to her knees so quickly the moment she's a few feet away from the table.

Bright lights wake her up this time and she's in the hospital again but this time she's sure it's not a dream. Pearl is beside her and there are too many people walking back and forth in the halls, footsteps repetitive and the voices so direct and loud. She covers her ears and tries to breathe, feeling so uneasy about the sudden events.

She doesn't ask what happened and Pearl doesn't say anything to her about the events. It's strange to her, Pearl is always so concerned and so talkative that the silence bothers her.

It feels like they're waiting forever for a doctor to come into the room. Peridot hasn't been to a doctor in years—not since her mother was alive—and the hunters rarely went to visit them either; even for wounds they stitched themselves up nicely. Garnet did a tour as a medic when she was younger; it made sense for her to train them.

She lays there and the voices quiet down and the door to the room shuts and the footsteps become subdued. “How are you feeling?” There's that question, the one Peridot came to dread. It was a doctor this time, someone she didn't recognize and hoped she would never see again.

“I'm fine.” Peridot seethes her teeth, finding herself suddenly angered by the man.

“We did a full blood workup and everything seems to be normal. Your blood pressure was a bit low but feeling faint and dizziness can be very normal during your first trimester.”  
“What?” Peridot sits up and turns to Pearl who has the same confused expression on her face. “I'm not...”

“Oh? I thought you were aware you were pregnant.”

The doctor seems so cheery and so excited to help a pregnant woman in her time of need. So, ready to set up appointments and prenatal care and plan for a due date. Peridot's about ready to snap the man's neck. But, pregnant? She doesn't feel as scared as she should be but rather numb.

“I'll send you down for an ultrasound to make sure everything is okay before we discharge you. I'll have a nurse bring you down to the room in just a few minutes.”  
The doctor leaves and Pearl reaches out to grab Peridot's hands, “it's okay. If you want to tell me about it...”

“I haven't...” She lowers her head, trying to recall the last time few times she had been with anyone. It had always been that dragon and she wonders if she did this to her. If it was some sort of plan. This is the first time in her life where she just doesn't know what to do.

Pearl notices Peridot's sudden distress and frowns, “let's not talk about this, now.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot just wants to have a life outside of the hunters watchful eyes.

The rest of the stay in the hospital was just as boring as the rest. The ultrasound made Peridot break down crying and she was beginning to find herself so stressed out and anxious about the whole thing that doctors wanted her to stay home and rest for as long as physically possible. Peridot couldn't do that though. She wanted to go back to the dragon and wanted to yell at her and figure out why she did this to her. 

Peridot uses a spell and sneaks out of the house and heads back to the woods. Deeper into them then she normally delves. Jasper would have found her by now, would have sensed her and dragged her into her cave but she didn't. Peridot was still searching the damned woods for some sort of life. The problem is, there were others in the woods as well. Not just humans but she was sure the things out there were hunters. 

Someone shot at her and Peridot did the only thing she could do and began to run. 

She didn't know the woods as well as she thought in the past. She ends up going in circles and ending up against a rock wall which leads to nothing—since there's no way to climb up the smooth surface—To the left and right to her there were more trees and she couldn't focus well enough to see where the sound of the footsteps was coming from.

As they're approaching she can hear a deep roar and see fire spilling out from far above her. It set the leaves and bark on fire so easily and she can hear the others in the woods beginning to escape for fear of the flames. 

“Jasper?” Peridot backs away from the wall, finding the dragon her only explanation for what had happened. She listens and hears the flapping of wings helping her descent back onto the ground from the stone above. 

“Witchling...” She speaks, letting her wings vanish and her golden eyes study over Peridot, “you smell different. I almost didn't recognize you.” She presses a hand to the rock and a small hole opens in which Jasper urges Peridot to go through before following. 

The cave is the same as before, warm and smells of ashes and flames. She follows the path they took before—back into what she assumed Jasper called her bedroom—and lays on the furs again. She feels lost this time, not sure what she's going to do with something growing inside of her. Not sure what to tell the others or what Pearl has possibly already told them. She has so many sudden fears and anxieties and tries to let them go so she can relax with her lover.

“What are you doing here?” Jasper questions as she simply watches the woman.

“You wanted me to stay before and now you're questioning my motive.” Peridot leans up on the back of her arms. 

“It is when you smell different. What is that?” 

“What do I smell like exactly?” 

“Sweet mint but also lightning. Possibly it's the energy that flows inside of you and I'm sure it's dying to come out of you.” Jasper gets onto her knees and resides next to the woman. “But it's different now...You have all of this power centered here.” She reaches out with a finger to touch a spot against her belly, “are you expecting?” She chuckles, leaning in closer to Peridot. 

“Did you do this on purpose? You said I was your mate...”

“Hm, do I displease you?” 

“It's not that.” She sighs, dropping her arms to lay back down, “there are just hunters out there that would kill you and... Our child.” The words sound so strange coming from her lips and her hands drop against her belly, “I don't think there's any way in protecting both of you.”

“I'll speak to your hunters and destroy any others that come in your path. I can protect you; don't worry about protecting me.”

“Have you ever had a mate before?” 

“Witches like you reincarnate. I've been with you in the past.” 

Peridot turns to look at Jasper, “really? I have past lives?” She's intrigued in this sudden information. It was something her own mother and sister never showed the pleasure in sharing. 

Jasper lays next to her, propping herself on one elbow and her other hand trailing against the woman's skin. “Yes, you've died and been reborn and I wait and come to find you. Each life is a little different than your last. This time you didn't have use of your powers until much later. In the beginning, it was harder, watching you die and be reborn for of hundreds of centuries. You know you used to be a midwife but that was a very long time ago.”

“Me? A midwife?” She laughs, “next you're going to tell me I pushed drugs in the eighties or was a gymnasiarch in ancient Greece.” 

“Well...” Jasper chuckles and it's deep almost like a roar, “you died at the end of the eighties and you were a dancer as strange as it may sound to you. Before that I believe you were studying to be a scientist or perhaps you were imprisoned. I've known you for a very long time and your past life is not always the same as your present, sometimes your interests change but you always end up interested in the same end career. It's fascinating.” 

“Which is what?” 

“Well, I guess you'll find out now won't you. Also, no you don't have any kids. This isn't the first time this has ever happened but let's just hope it's successful this time.” The dragon mused before pulling her hand away and running it through her own hair, “Do you want to take a bath with me? There's an underground cavern that leads to water.” 

“...a bath?” Peridot sits up.

“I won't try anything, promise.” She grinned, the sharp of her teeth breaking through. 

Peridot can't explain it but there's something about Jasper that makes her think everything the dragon has been telling her has been true. She felt as if she knew Jasper more than just their secret meetings and dreams. Something about knowing the creatures name and never even being properly introduced. Then there was the fact that the dragon seemed to know more about her than she did. Small conversations they'd have where Peridot wanted something to eat and Jasper knew her favorite food or her favorite scent or the spots on her body that made her body shake. 

It was different, being in this place and being so at home. Almost as if this was what she was missing her entire life. In all honestly, she felt so much happier knowing this was at the end of all the madness with her family and the hunters. She wanted a normal life and if this was as normal as she could get it with Jasper than she was happy. 

Following Jasper down into the caverns seemed so safe compared to anyone else in her life. Not only safe but the sight of the lower caverns was gorgeous, covered in mossy stone and jewels glistening through the fire dancing near the edges of the cave. It seemed so controlled, like the fire was only there for decorations and it was Jasper's doing. She did scare the hunters and burn the trees with her powers and Peridot questioned what other powers she had. 

Jasper wasn't just a dragon...She was a demon, a creature made from Hell and Peridot had so many more questions for her. Questions of her own past and their past together. How much Peridot's constant deaths must have hurt her and then there was that wait. Death; waiting twenty or more years and being together for such a short period of time until she died again. It was a cycle and Peridot barely understands why. 

“You have to remove your clothes.” Jasper's voice comes and Peridot focuses again, staring down at the water in the lake below her. “Is this not to your liking?” 

Jasper moves closer to her and Peridot turns to look at her. Eyes noticing the discoloration of her skin in the light of the flames. They took up spots of her face, legs and breasts and Peridot reaches a hand to touch a mark on her chest. “No, I guess I'm just thinking about what you said.” She moves to begin to undo the buttons on her jacket.

“Which part?” Jasper's hands reach out to help Peridot unbutton the jacket before tossing it to the floor, the same with pulling her shirt from her head and letting her breast spill from the shirt. 

Peridot notices something strange and brings her hand to her chest, “huh? Oh, the part where we've known each other in the past”

“Are you going to stand there and fondle yourself?” 

She drops a hand and begins to undo the fasten on her jeans, “my breasts are a little bigger.” 

“Mhm, that happens when you're carrying a child.” Jasper moves from Peridot, stepping into the water and moving closer to the center. She watches Peridot continue to undress, “but what did you mean?” 

Peridot's shimming out of her jeans and dropping them into the pile of her clothing that had accumulated. “It's like...I feel safe when I'm with you. I can't explain it but I remember the first couple of times I saw you in my dreams and it felt like I've known you forever.” Her fingers go around the band of black fabric against her waist and she easily slides it down her thighs and it pools at her ankles. 

“That's what it's supposed to feel like and every time we fuck-”

“Jasper.” Peridot interrupts and the dragon chuckles. 

“Fine, but it's true. When you started sleepwalking, that's what you were coming to me for. You must have been stressed from the dreams and everything that happened with the hunters and your family and you needed comfort. I was the most familiar thing to you at the time.” Jasper comes closer to the edge where Peridot is still standing. It takes the witch a second to sit down and let her legs slip into the water. 

“Stay right there.” The dragon moves to another edge of the lake and grabs something before coming back over. It's a strange oval shape and one side is rather rougher while the other smooth.

“What is that? Smells nice.” 

“You don't want to know. Let's pretend it soap.” 

Jasper begins to run the strange soap over the witch's skin. Pressing roughly against her inner thighs, running over her belly and against her breasts and shoulders. The material feels so gritty and warm, almost like bathing in sand and it smells like she imagines sunshine does. 

Jasper sets the item aside and grips a small cup-like shape and begins filling it with water and pouring it over Peridot's skin. Her hand follows to make sure there is not residue left but her hand rest in between Peridot's thighs longer than it should.

“You said you weren't going to try anything.” 

“I'm normally...Affectionate. Especially if it's just me and you and we're both nude.” Jasper chuckles again as she finishes cleaning the witch. 

Peridot only smiles. She's already mapped out the places on Jasper's shoulder that lift and drop when she chuckles or laughs. It's nice, Peridot thinks, how relaxed the two are together and how simple things feel. It's different then her everyday life.

“I have an idea.” Jasper turns to press her back against the stone.

“Hm?” Peridot makes the sound as she slides from the rock and joins Jasper in the water. It's warmer than she expected.

“What if I take up my human form and I come to take care of you?”

“What?” 

“That's not too your liking? I can understand. The human form I've obtained is a bit different...Similar appearance but still is quite unique." She pauses after she senses Peridot's hesitation, "are you afraid of us meeting because you know I'm not going to be nice to them.”

“No. I don't care about any of that. I just. Like, you can do that? You can take up a human form and stay with me?” 

“Yes. If that's what you want, but only for a little while. After that you're going to have to leave them and come with me. It's the only way I can properly protect you and her.” 

“Her?” Peridot asks and Jasper only nods. “How do you know?”

“Oh...” Jasper reaches back for that oval shaped item in her hand again and hands it to Peridot. 

“Come on, tell me. How do you know? I'm not even that far along.” She takes the item from Jasper and looks at it, massaging her thumb against the smooth side. She flips over the bar and begins to press it against the dragon's chest. 

“I can't tell you all of my secrets.” She hums, relaxing into the press of the bar over her. 

Peridot can't help but take in the site of the dragon's body. It's different than her own and the normal coloring of the skin looks almost burnt and orange, the scales over the back of her arms and the way her fingers delve into those feral claws. Jasper's more of a creature than anything, her face is slender but still defined by the square of her jaw and the angled markings across her eyes. Peridot finds herself interested in what this human form consists of and if possibly she had seen Jasper in person...Maybe in the past before finding this winged creature in the present.   
Peridot’s not sure how much time has passed since the two had bathed in the water, but when they removed themselves Peridot couldn’t help but watch Jasper work on a more human looking form. It was so very different than the burnt discoloration of her dragon form. The skin was a light shade of brown and still characterized by the markings that turned to patches of white flecked throughout her skin. Her eyes still that golden, amber shade and the only true differences Peridot could think of was the difference of genitalia or how much bigger she had made her chest. However, Peridot promised not to make any remarks or laugh.

“How do you do this?” Jasper asked as she watched Peridot redress, pulling her shirt back over her and dragging the fabric down to her hips.

“Do what?” She turns around and watches Jasper who is in the middle of putting on a shirt. Peridot laughs, “when was the last time you were in a human form?” 

“Centuries ago. Maybe even longer.” Peridot comes over towards her, hands gripping over the fabric and helping her even it out before pulling it over her chest and do to the jeans she had already been sporting. “I can tell you like it.”

“Shut up. You just look gorgeous no matter what.” She pulls away, moving to grab her pants and put them back on, “at least you got your pants on without me.” 

“You didn't want to help me put them on.”

“Because you kept making sexual suggestions. Besides, you got them on with no complaints and it doesn't help that your skin is still wet.” Peridot sits on the stone floor to put her socks and shoes back on and Jasper watches her to copy the movements to get her own boots on. She knows clothing, and how to dress herself but wearing shoes and covering her feet was always uncomfortable with her. The only thing she needs help with is tying them as she caught her claws stuck in the lace many times. “Okay, you need to get rid of those.”

“I'll...bite them off?” She asks, flexing her fingers. 

“Come on. If we're going to do this, we should do it today. The longer the wait the worse it's going to be.” 

“So, what are you going to tell them?” 

“I have no idea.”


	4. Chapter 4

Peridot is not sure what to expect when she brings Jasper into her home. It was much different than the cave Jasper lives in; it was much more organized, spacious, and she could spend time in one area without traveling through the caverns which was sometimes a chore. Jasper wanted to explore the place but Peridot made her stay in the library. She was rummaging through old books and telling Peridot stories from hundreds of years ago, and battles she partook in. Jasper couldn't tell Peridot every life they ever lived together but she could stay with her now in this life and hope the witch didn't die this time. Especially in this house full of hunters that would kill Jasper for what she was worth and kill Peridot's future offspring for the mix breed she would most likely grow up to become.

The two decide against alerting the others because Peridot's afraid of the confrontation she'll get from Pearl. Either way, she feels it down to her bones that things are going to get ugly fast with the Dragon here. She just hopes that if the others do come down that it is Pearl first, she tends to be the most understanding even if she does yell a lot. Ever since the break-ins with demons in the past, Garnet's always been a little on edge about protecting everyone. If Garnet were to catch on—which Peridot was convinced she would—there would be an all-out war that she doesn't know if Garnet can win. 

Outside of her worries she just tries to keep herself calm. She's wrapped in a blanket, laying on the couch as she watches Jasper at one of the bookshelves. She's thumbing through the pages of something and has ceased her talking about past battles. It was quiet and comfortable, enough for her to fall asleep but the feeling of guilt was washing over her and she wasn't sure how Jasper was going to convince the others. 

Jasper's plan was masquerading as a witch. Dragons had natural abilities to produce elements based off their type and magic wasn't something that only witches could do. There were a few types of witches in this world and some have learned the ability over years. It was tough, something Pearl wanted to do and something Peridot hated her for doing. She always thought Pearl didn't deserve to have the power that flowed through her own veins. It bothered her more than it should, ever since her mother died and they took her in she just never respected Pearl. There was no reason for her to do it. 

There was always more to the story of her mother's death outside of the hunters. She never really spoke about it because Peridot could have died but they saved her. She's not sure why she was saved and when she first lived in the house it was her main question. Why did Pearl and Garnet save her? She was just a witch, there were hundreds of her out there. Jasper can't help but voice her concerns about the events She wasn't there but how Peridot feels is what concerns Jasper first and foremost. She's not the same Peridot she's been in her past lives and not only was the pregnancy something new—that Jasper never experienced in the past—but the magic as well. Her other concerns are the fact she lives with these hunters and Jasper wishes she knew a way to get Peridot out of this place. There was no way to get Peridot out of this place without convincing the others she'll be safe.

Peridot falls asleep on the couch and Jasper continues to browse the books. In her mind, she's thinking of so many plans and ideas that she could develop to take Peridot back to her cave. Maybe not even a cave, maybe she could apprehend a house or even live with Peridot in her old house. She feels like it's a bad idea because of the hunters. She's dealt with hunters in the past but not like this. She sighs, looking up when she hears a noise coming from the floor above. She's struck with the sudden curiosity of who—or what—laid beyond those stairs. 

She slides the book back into its proper slot on the shelf and moves out of the confines of the bookshelves and stands at the bottom step. She hears another sound and knows she shouldn't explore but hunters couldn't harm her with any of their methods. She's cautious when she walks up the stairs, careful of the creaking wood but under her weight it's hard to stop them from doing so. When she makes it to the top of the stairs she's greeted by a small pathway. On the left of her is a small hallway and the right leads to a small curve where a door resides. She can smell that familiar meadow and peppermint scent and is sure it's Peridot's dwelling. However, there's an unfamiliar scent ahead of her and she walks straight into what looks to be a shambled kitchen. 

The house itself is a mess but it looks as if it's been going through repairs off and on for a few years now. The kitchenware looks nice but there's paint peeling from the walls and the smell of fresh paint from somewhere else in the house. The backsplash title against the wall is beginning to chip and break off and whilst the kitchen looks clean it also is incredibly overused and Jasper notes to ask how many people live here.

She can pick up so many different scents in the kitchen of people who have come and gone into this place. There's the smell of blood and gunpowder and it's stronger than any of the cleaning chemicals in the place but there's also a strange aroma that hits her. It's a musky scent of a person and she doesn't have time to leave the kitchen and head back downstairs because a gun cocks behind her. 

“You better have a good reason for being in my house.” The voice shows no signs of hesitation and Jasper's aware it's a hunter behind her. She turns around, studies the woman's face before saying anything to her. There's a deep scar above the center of her multicolored eyes and even though she looks so stern and serious, there's a soft look to her face as if she cares more than she lets on. Jasper doesn't show her any fear, just continues to study her stance and appearance. “I'm waiting.” The woman's voice seems so calm, it's as if she's been in this situation a thousand times before.

“You look familiar.” Jasper notices the similar build, texture of her hair and her stance with the weapon. “Ah, I've got it. You're Ruby's daughter. She was a fine hunter.”

“I'm not here to play games. You either leave or I shoot.” 

“Garnet, put your gun down.” Peridot sighs as she stands in the doorway and uses a quick movement of her fingers to knock the gun from Garnet's grip. It clatters to the floor and Garnet bends down to pick it up, put the safety back on and slips it back into the holster on her jeans. “It's my fault. I told her to stay downstairs until you came home.”

“You brought a stranger into our home.” Garnet doesn't ask questions she doesn't care to know the answer to and most of the time she can get the truth out of someone with a standard line of statements. 

“She's not a stranger.” Peridot sighs again as she moves from the doorway to where Garnet is standing. The dragon touches her skin and Peridot knows she needs to get used to the touch of her human form. 

“I'm getting Pearl.” Garnet speaks as she leaves the kitchen, not leaving Peridot any time to protest the situation. 

Peridot looks up to Jasper, “I told you to stay downstairs.” She smacks Jasper on the arm and receives a bemused look from the dragon. “You don't understand, Garnet has a way with people. Her mother was a cop and everything she knows comes from that sort of training. She's hyper-observant and has an eidetic memory and nothing gets past her.” 

“Well, I'm assuming she's never met a dragon before and we operate somewhat differently. Besides, I've know you for thousands of years and it's not a lie that we know each other or how we feel about each other.” She drops her hand from Peridot. “Besides, a gun cannot harm someone like me.”

“Jasper. I don't care what can and cannot harm you. I don't need Garnet shooting you and I don't want you to piss them off. Pearl will judge everything you do from the moment you open your mouth. Honestly, Garnet and Pearl are this power couple that on top of being perfect for each other, they can also handle a shotgun.”

“I can handle more than a shotgun.” 

“How about just for today we avoid you getting shot.” She smiles before shaking her head at the woman. 

They wait for Garnet to return to the kitchen and when Pearl enters as well, Jasper's defenses raise. She doesn't know what causes this to happen but something about Pearl reminds her of someone from the past. She grips Peridot's shoulder as if she's ready to flee but she waits it out. 

“Garnet told me you-” She stops, looks at Jasper and then back to Peridot. She hesitantly chuckles, “do you think your friend can wait downstairs and give us a second to talk?” 

“She's not my friend, Pearl.” She groans, leading Jasper from the kitchen to the small hall where her bedroom was. She unlocks the door with a spell and allows Jasper entrance to wait for her in there. She shuts the door, uses that same spell to make sure she doesn't wander out and heads back to Pearl and Garnet. 

“What do you think you're doing bringing people into this house? We don't know this woman!” 

“Nothing bad is going to happen just because I bring someone into this house. Amethyst brings people over all of the time and you never say anything to her.” She feels like she's being treated like a child, she even crosses her arms over her chest in annoyance. 

“No, she doesn't.” Pearl argues.

“No, she does.” Garnet shrugs, moving to lean against the wall. 

“Fine, but it's different.” 

“How on earth is it different?” Is it because she's a hunter and you only trust your own kind? Why would you even try to bring me into your little pack of hunters if you don't trust me enough to go out on my own and make friends.” 

“Well, it was different until you went out and got pregnant. There are most likely hundreds of demons looking for you to rebuild what your mother was trying to do and besides, do you even know this woman?” 

“Okay, you are not my mother, Pearl. You have no say in what I do or who I'm friends with or who I bring here. I don't even have to stay here but every single time I try to leave you talk me into staying. I just need you to trust me.” 

“And I will trust you when you've done something that earns it.” 

Peridot knows when she's mad or scared her powers can get out of hand. It's why the lights in the kitchen are flickering on and off wildly. “You act like I'm my mother and that's why you don't trust me. You really think I'm anything like her? I had nothing to do with her trying to start a war but you think I'm just like her.” Her anger just causes those powers to swarm even more, causes those lights to shatter and the table in the center of the kitchen shake.

“That's not what I-” Pearl starts but is cut off by Garnet.

“Peridot, relax.” Garnet cautiously comes over to her, places her hands on the woman's shoulder. “We were surprised about you letting a stranger in without introducing her to us first. We didn't know who she was and in a house full of hunters, you should expect us to be a little apprehensive. Go relax in your room for a little and come out with your friend and introduce her to us.” 

“No. We knew this was a bad idea.” Peridot sighs, her powers calming down as she moves away from Garnet and returns to her bedroom.

Peridot's room isn't very large, it was another room full of books before she came along and cleaned it out for a place to live. She has a decent size bed—she occasionally moves into new spots—which is now against the wall in the corner, a dresser and a closet along with a pile of junk in one of the corners. It's where Jasper is, rummaging around with the books she has on the chair. She has three in her hand and she's squinting to read the spines which are not in English. “Where did you get these books?” 

“My mom’s office.” She looks over to Jasper and then sighs, moving to her dresser to grab a change of clothes. “They want to talk to both of us but I'm too tired to deal with them.” 

“I heard what you were talking about out there. If you want to get out of this place you can come with me.” She looks over to Peridot, watches her take off the current shirt she's wearing and toss it into the hamper. 

“No offense but I don't want to live in a cave.” 

“No, not the cave.” She gets up from the floor and comes closer to Peridot, watching as she slips a tank top on. “I have a small house near the woods. I don't spend a lot of time in this form but…I knew your mother. I used to help her get ingredients for spells.”

“What?” She backs away from Jasper as she looks at her. “You knew my mother?” 

“Not where we spoke face to face but she would send someone to me and I would give her the things she asked for. I didn't help her try to start some sort of war because if she did she would have used my true nature and abilities for her own purposes. I told you killing me is near impossible but I'm sure that was her goal. Dragon wings, teeth, scales, meat; they're all extremely rare items and some can make the most powerful potions imaginable. I like to keep enemies close just so they don't find out about me. But, this was some time ago. 

Peridot doesn't think poorly of Jasper for taking care of herself, especially with her mother who was so keen on trying to take over the area and bring about destruction with the most powerful of spells. Diamond wasn't a demon but people were surprised she wasn't. She was a normal human who took her obsession with power and control way too far. “No, I understand. My mother was just a very interesting woman.” She sighs, going back to removing her jeans and panties to replace with just a simple pair of boy shorts. There was no reason to put on anything better to cover her. She moves to her bed, pushes covers out of the way and lays down with a groan. 

“What's wrong? Besides the hunters.” Jasper asks as comes over to the bed and drops onto her knees next to it. 

“I don't know. I'm not trapped here but if I try to do something or go somewhere Pearl treats me like a child and I don't know why. All I know is that she thinks I'm going to be like my mother and she's afraid of having to deal with it again but even the kid trusts me.” 

“What kid?”

“Before Garnet...” Peridot turns on her side to face Jasper, “Pearl was with a woman who had a son before she died. Things happened and Pearl obtained joint custody with the father. She wanted to train him as a hunter and his dad thought it was too dangerous. He's really sweet, he comes by a lot and it's a nice change from Pearl.” 

“What do you even do all day stuck inside?” 

“Read, go online, build stuff, prank Pearl, the usual.” She giggles. “Are you going to stay here? I mean, I understand if you don't want to.” 

“I don't have anything else to wear if I did. That's what humans normally do, right?”

“Not always. Here, put your arms up.” Peridot sits up and watches Jasper do as she says. She reaches down to the hem of her shirt and pulls it over her chest and tugs it up her arms until it's off. “You can keep the bra on if you want...Just take off your pants.” She scoots over on the bed and watches Jasper get up from her knees and unbutton her jeans. “Oh wait, tell me about one of my past lives? Please?” 

Jasper tugs the jean from her thighs and nearly trips stepping out of them. “Okay, let me think.” She kneels onto the bed, hands reaching behind to undo the clips. Peridot watches as her breasts fall from the bra, moving as Jasper tosses the bra with the rest of the clothing and lays down next to her. “So, a couple hundred years you fell in love with a princess. You were working as her maidservant per request of the king.”

“You're not going to tell me you were the princess, are you?” Peridot shifts, wraps an arm around Jasper's waist and relaxes against her.

“No, let me tell the story. So, the princess was supposed to get married and the person she was going to marry was whichever prince won this tournament the king was holding.” 

“So...You were a prince?” 

“Anyway, during the tournament there was a dragon attack and no I wasn't the dragon. The dragon attacked part of the castle and people, including the princess, were injured. So, the king put up a reward for anyone who slayed the dragon.” She moves her arm, slipping a hand into Peridot's hair. 

“Right, so you came in as some brave knight to destroy the dragon but you are a dragon so-” 

“So, it was sort of a con for the reward money. When I came to the king and told them that I had defeated the dragon and shown proof, he offered me the chance to marry for the throne. At the time, I was living on my own and the opportunity and possible riches weren't something a dragon would ever pass up so I said yes. I met you after I started living in the castle and I knew it was you because you can't fake that sort of spark we have.” 

“I feel every single story you tell me is going to be you seeing me and instantly falling for me.” She chuckles.

“Of course, but I've always loved you. In the beginning, wherever I would go I would find some version of you. It's like you would always be wherever I decided to go next. Each time I find you; you fall in love with me all over again.” 

“Well, I hope you never get tired of hearing me say that I love you. In any life.” It was something she knew and wasn't sure if it was from knowing Jasper her in past lives or from the few months that they've known each other. Their relationship only became more real to her when she became pregnant, but the feelings she had were things she felt when she first came into the dragon's lair.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The farther along she gets in her pregnancy, the more she worries about her sleep walking and the hunters.

Even in the comfort of Jasper's arms, Peridot feels restless. She's woken up constantly by nightmares and other strange dreams, but the worst doesn't come until she begins pull herself from bed in the middle of the night and journeys out of the house and into the woods. Sometimes, Jasper stops her before she makes it to the front door and other times she's found outside, just standing in front of the house. On the days Jasper finds Peridot standing in front of the house she's always dirty and sometimes covered in scratch marks, bruises or her feet would bleed due to walking around barefoot, nude or in just a nightgown. This is the final time it will happen, Jasper tells her as she tries to find a cure for her sleepwalking but it doesn't seem to work. Whatever the magical pull is, it is a lot stronger than anything Jasper can whip up in her kitchen or with fairy dust. 

Finding Peridot in the middle of a clearing was something that worried Jasper more than any time before. Her body was cold to the touch and her skin was blackened in some spots as if electricity was flowing through her veins and burning her from the inside. There was a fringed hole right underneath her breasts in the fabric of the shirt and the smell of smoke filled the air, the ground around her was burnt, trees were knocked down and the slightest spark looked as if it could set them aflame. Jasper has never been so worried about Peridot before as she was at this moment; the possibility that the strange sleepwalking could kill her if didn't stop soon was becoming more and more real to her. 

The sleepwalking seems to be contained as the next few weeks go on. Jasper found a protection spell and uses it around the house and it will not let Peridot leave unless Jasper deactivates it. It works well enough that it requires a lot of effort and spell casting on Peridot's side to break through it. Jasper feels as if it's the only option they have left. With all the previous work she did of making sure Peridot was safe indoors, this was all she could offer for now. If Peridot did not stop, Jasper was certain she would have to put her up in the cave until the baby was born.

Peridot's been staying with Jasper only when she can get away with it, spending more time away from the hunters and using that time to focus on Jasper and the baby. It makes taking care of Peridot harder when she must stay with the hunters but dragons don't need much sleep and Jasper spends as much time as she can to make sure Peridot is protected. Peridot certainly likes the freedom and likes being with Jasper but the symptoms of her pregnancy are causing her powers to become faulty and the lack of control worries the hunters. It isn't just the powers however, but also the morning sickness and fatigue. It caused her to be tired easier and sleep more, which only made the onset of her sleepwalking worse. She's only three months pregnant, she's starting to show and they're so worried about what the demons left in town will do to her. Peridot's only worried about herself and her unborn child. 

It's why she dreads visiting Pearl and Garnet during the day because Pearl always asks her questions and Garnet translates them indirectly so Peridot doesn't become annoyed. Here she is though, sitting in the kitchen of the house with a glass of milk and a cookie she stole from the plate Garnet had made for Steven. The boy was visiting today and it made all the normal hunter nonsense stop and people act like regular human beings that did not fight monsters for a living. 

Garnet is making herself a cup of coffee before she sits across the table and watches Steven run into the kitchen to grab another cookie. She wanted to speak to Peridot about a few things before they left for her appointment but was constantly cut off by Steven when he constantly came into the kitchen to say hello. “Hey, Garnet! Can you and Peridot come play video games with me?” 

“We can't today.” Garnet answers for them and Peridot looks at Steven. He's barely a teenager and still acts incredibly young and so hopeful and it's just something Peridot notes. He wears the same pink shirt every single day and whenever he comes over he convinces everyone to play video games with him or go outside and play. They live close to a beach but Peridot's never been to it because she used to live farther into the neighboring city and Steven always wants to go to it.

“Aw, why not?” He takes a bite of the cookie and gives puppy dog eyes until Garnet says yes. Peridot mimics him by taking a bite of her own cookie and finishes it.

“I'm going with Peridot to the doctors. Why don't you ask Amethyst?” She picks up her, letting that burning sensation from the ceramic run through her hands as she takes a drink. 

“Because she went to sleep. Come on, you promised.”

“Hm, how about I play with you when we get back?” 

“Why don't I just go to the doctor with you guys?” 

“You wouldn't like this kind of doctor. Besides, Peridot has to get an ultrasound and it's going to be really boring.”

“What's that?” He blinks. 

“It's just to make sure the baby is developing normally. Now, why don't you go finish playing your game because Pearl is going to be mad if you keep eating cookies before lunch.” 

“Hm, okay but you should name the baby Steven, after me.” 

“I don't think I'm going to do that. I already have a name picked out.” Peridot reaches forward for another cookie and takes a bite out of it. 

“Aaw. Okay but the next baby you have to name lil' Steven. I'm going to go see if I can get Pearl to play with me.” 

Steven scampers out of the kitchen with his cookie and Peridot grabs her mug from the table, “we should get going soon.” 

“We have time still. I want to talk to you about your sleepwalking.” 

“Why? Jasper and I have a decent handle on it right now.” Peridot grumbles. She still has a lot of questions about it because originally, she thought it was Jasper. Jasper was bringing her to the cave to sleep with her and Peridot would wake up with bits and pieces of the night. It wasn't the case. Her sleep walking had nothing to do with Jasper and her telepathic connection. It's what she believed at first until she found out Jasper's connection to her made her sleep walking stray to her cave at night and not whoever was pulling her away. 

“I just want to make sure you're okay. You know Pearl and I worry about you.” 

“I'm fine. You and Pearl have absolutely nothing to worry about. If the time comes when something happens and I need something, you will be the first person I call but I'm fine.

“I think it would be good if you stayed here during your pregnancy because of the possibilities of demon attacks. Especially with your mother gone and you being her essential heir.” She takes another sip from her coffee and looks over Peridot, trying to see If she can spot any faults in the way she spoke or her posture. It told her if someone was lying or showed any insecurities a person may have. It was one of her talents. 

“No. Look, I know Pearl told you to talk to me about it because you wouldn't say something like that to me. But Jasper and I have it under control, I told you.” She was afraid of many things and one of them was the hunters finding out about Jasper if she mentioned something while she was asleep. “It's my problem to deal with and being pregnant isn't going to make it any more dangerous. Maybe we should just go now.” She sighs as she takes a drink from her mug and finishes eating. 

Peridot was always tired of hearing Garnet talk to her like she was a child or she didn't know what was best for herself. The only reason she was taking her to the doctor’s appointment was because Peridot didn't have their contact information and she couldn't put Jasper on her documents. She was a dragon who lived in a cave and had a lovely log house in the woods but no phone number or address, or insurance. The insurance was never an issue because when Peridot's mother died she left her with everything. She owned the house, all the bank accounts and money she really didn't know what to do with. It didn't matter to her because Pearl would never let her leave the city in the first place. 

She has her anxieties about the appointment, about how quiet her and Garnet had been in the waiting room and the possibility of the ultrasound picking up signs of the half-dragon child growing inside of her. She was glad she had Jasper around because Jasper kept her anxieties from getting out of hand. The child would most likely not grow horns until later in life and whilst there were possibilities of bone spurts where the wings would one day grow; it wouldn't pick up on an ultrasound and if it did, not until closer to the end of pregnancy. She was still worried about Garnet being there and the lectures Pearl gives her whenever they're in the same room. If not about trying to live with Jasper, it was about how irresponsible she was. Especially since Peridot never really explained the person who got her pregnant was Jasper. 

She has a stack of papers to fill out and Garnet only spoke to her when Peridot asked a question. It was normal questions like birthday, social security number, address, phone number. She gave Jasper a spot on the paperwork too even though she didn't know her information. She didn't want Jasper coming to the hospital and being told she can't be there if she wasn't on her friends and family list. She didn't want to add Pearl though, she didn't really see Pearl as anything but a nuisance but Garnet insists. 

Her appointment was simple; a lot of yes and no questions, questions about her general health, sexual health, family health problems, and then it came to a lot of tests. Checking for diseases, a pelvic exam, a blood test, a urine test and a bunch of other invasive procedures before they even got to do an ultrasound. It helped that she knew the doctor because she was the mother of a friend of Steven's. She normally deals with humans if she needs to but most of the clientele ends up with are witches, different types of demons and the occasional dog. She was a good doctor and Peridot always trusted her along with every other creature who went to her.

She's lying on the table when the doctor goes off into another room to grab an item and Garnet is staring at her. She's not sure why but there's a possibility it's because of the fact her shirt has lifted and she's showing. But at the same time, Peridot has claw marks showing just a little at the hem of her pants from Jasper. The dragon loves to claw and bite and whenever they're having sex and she doesn't stop until her thighs are covered in bruises and sometimes even bleeding. She's glad the doctor hadn't said anything.

“You've been with Jasper for a while.” Garnet speaks and Peridot looks over to her. “I guess it's surprising to me. We didn't know about her until a few weeks ago.” Garnet doesn't want to mention the marks she's observed on her body because they seem more like something that happened during sex than anything else. She knows the doctor was asking about Peridot's sexual history but Garnet was not going to. 

“I met her when I started sleepwalking about six—I think—months ago. I don't really remember how but she just helped and took care of me. Our relationship is a bit odd I suppose but I really love her. She's pretty adamant about finding a way to keep me in the bed at night and not out in the woods. She has a protection spell but apparently, I've been trying to break through it at night. It's kind of scary that I'm using magic in my sleep but...” She trails off when the doctor comes back in and they're able to finish the ultrasound, get pictures and finally leave. She isn't a big fan of doctors, isn't a big fan of being alone either and it's nice to have Garnet around as suspicious and anxious as she gets around her. 

When get into the car Peridot is thumbing through the papers she took home with her. Some of them are about self-care and others are what to expect and then she has a small envelope in which her ultrasound photos are held. “Do you think that...that my child is going to inherit my powers?” She turns to Garnet who has her eyes focused on the road as she starts the car. 

“I think it depends. Most likely, yes but I think you should do some digging into your birth parents to find out who they were so you know who your child is going to become.” 

Garnet drives her back home to the little log cabin she's been staying at with Jasper. It's not a far drive from where Peridot had previously been staying with Garnet but it's a lot closer to the beach than she's ever been. It's a small cabin, a little wooden staircase with a small deck and wood logs piled up on the left side. The inside isn't any different. There's a kitchen to their left, along with a bathroom, an opened living room, and bedrooms on the right side. It's simplistic, wood furnishing with wood finished counter tops and the entire place seemed so comfortable yet with old fashion looking furniture. Peridot loves it. 

When the two arrive, Peridot allows Garnet to come in and Jasper doesn't seem to be home but there's the stench of blood in the air and the shower is running. She puts the papers from the doctor down on the island and has Garnet stay in the kitchen as she goes off to investigate. Her first thought is Jasper got into a fight with someone or something and is injured and then she also thinks Jasper just went hunting and was cleaning up. The latter was correct because Jasper was standing in her dragon form, covered in blood and using the shower head to clean herself off. 

The blood fades off into the water, running down in between her breasts and against her inner thighs. Peridot promises not to get distracted by her body. “What on earth are you doing?” She shuts the door so Garnet doesn't come in and stays close to it because there's blood covering the title. 

“You want to join?” She looks over at Peridot but is now focusing on washing the dirt from her hair. “I caught a deer.” She chuckles to herself, “wasn't as fast as me.”

“Garnet's here. Can you hurry this up and change back to your human form?” 

“Yeah, just bring me some clothes.” 

Peridot does so. Heads to their bedroom and rummages for clothes for Jasper to wear. Jasper stays in her human form for only hours at a time because she prefers the freedom of her true self. She does it for Peridot, if she travels into the woods at night to look for her, must be civil around the other hunters, or just needs to go into town. When she was a supplier for witches in the past, she kept to that form so they wouldn't use her for rarities for other purposes but now she does what she wishes to do with the form she was given. 

Peridot hands Jasper the clothes and a towel before meeting Garnet back in the kitchen, “she went hunting and got dirty. She does it a lot.” She sighs as she opens the fridge for a bottle of water and hands one to Garnet but she waves her hand. 

“What kind of hunting?” 

“Deer mostly but I've seen her catching fish, too.” She laughs, “do you want something to eat?” 

“You don't have to. I'm not going to stay very long.” 

Peridot tries to fill the awkward silence with random stories about a television show or something she had seen—the fact they had reception out where they were was astounding—but Garnet doesn't react to much of it. The only thing she says is something to Jasper when she comes out of the bathroom, drying her hair with a towel as she comes into the kitchen. 

“How was your appointment?” Jasper asks as she pulls out a stool from the counter to sit down. 

“It was fine. A lot of questions and tests and paperwork.” She groans as she drinks from her water bottle.

“I'm glad I didn't go then. I don't really like hospitals or doctors’ offices so being in those places...” She shakes her head, “did you get pictures?” 

“Mhm, Steven wants to see photos of the baby so I have to stop by the house sometime to show him.” She grabs the small envelope on the table and pulls the picture out to show Jasper. 

“He's convinced the baby will be the cutest thing in the world but not as cute as he was when he was a baby.” Garnet chuckles and watches Jasper's reaction to the photo. She's either very good at pretending like she's not that invested in the child or is just happy for Peridot. 

“Children are fascinating. Like, she's this tiny little peanut sized thing and then six months from now she'll be like...A human being?” Jasper shakes her head again, not sure where she's going with what she's saying. 

“How do you know the gender?” Garnet asks and Jasper looks at her. 

“Palm reading.” Peridot answers for her, “Jasper does it when she gets bored and even though it's an old parlor trick, it's very accurate.” She's lying but her lies at this point are structured and her breathing pattern so steady that Garnet can't detect it. 

“Interesting. I thought most witches were above those forms of trickery.” 

“It's just fun to do. I'm sure Steven would love it. Levitating objects, palm reading, tarot cards which are still in use today and all sorts of other fun little tricks.” Peridot purses her lips, “I think I'm going to change into pajamas and take a nap.” She sets the photos on the counter and blinks when Garnet moves closer to her and resets a hand on her shoulder.

“I'm going to head back home then. Call me if you need anything.”

Garnet leaves and Peridot never felt more relieved. Her and Jasper had made a decent home here and she didn't want the hunters ruining that for her. Peridot leaves her water on the island and moves to hug Jasper, “do you think you can watch me while I sleep?” 

“Are you that worried?” Jasper asks as she slides her arms around her. 

“I just want to know where I'm going and what I'm trying to do. This isn't like a normal person sleepwalking and they're eating cereal at three in the morning with their eyes closed. This is like...Some sort of force is calling me and it isn't strong enough. I want to know who or what it is.” 

“Okay, I'll watch you and I will follow you and make sure you're okay.” She slides a hand into Peridot's hair and presses a kiss to the top of her head. 

Peridot loves Jasper more than anyone she's ever been with or known. Even her own family she tended to hate but then Jasper came along and cared for her in ways she never imagined someone doing for her. Yet, she loved Jasper for other reasons not just how they could help each other. She assumed there were reasons her past lives remembered that she knew but at the same time just couldn't recall. Whatever it was, Peridot loves Jasper and Jasper loves her back just the same. 

Jasper loves Peridot enough to watch her while she sleeps and when she wakes up from her nap still asleep, enough to follow her from the cabin and into the woods. She sticks close to her, helping her when she trips and falls or getting around obstacles by breaking fences and removing whatever is in her way. They end up outside of the forest, heading out into Beach City and even walk farther than that. They're standing on the pier, watching the ocean and Jasper is afraid Peridot's ready to jump into the water but she doesn't. She stands there as if someone is talking to her and she nods her head. She drifts a bit, stands there for a little longer before moving her hands.

There's a power that emanates from Peridot's hands, static that slowly begins to turn into lightning and begins to roll off her skin. Jasper's not sure if it's her own powers or possibly from the child. The type of dragon she was did not have those abilities so it was rare for a dragon to not inherit its parents’ powers, but it was even rarer for a dragon to inherit different powers all together. Although, Peridot knew very little of her birth parents outside of them being witches so it was always possible she would develop different abilities later in life. This was new for both of them. 

Jasper knows she can't wake Peridot up and must watch the event take place, watch how she lights up the sky but the power from her hands shooting up into it. It only happens for a few minutes before the power diminishes. Peridot lowers her hands back to her sides and stares out at the ocean before turning around. She begins to walk back home and Jasper sticks close to her until she wakes up.

Jasper follows Peridot back through the streets, back into the woods and Peridot keeps walking until they end up at the house. Peridot doesn't go inside, wake up or do anything but stand there and stare. It's at least midnight by now and Peridot just continues to stand in the spot she's at and Jasper has sat down on the deck as she watches her. It's been like that for close to an hour and that's when Peridot collapses onto the ground and wakes up moments later. She notices Jasper at her side and just squints to look at her. 

“I've got you.” She tries to help Peridot sit up, “are you okay?” 

“Why am I outside?” She asks, it's her normal question after taking a nap or going to sleep and ending up outside or farther away from their home all together. She knows it's from the sleepwalking but she's unaware when she does it and ends up asking the question each time.

“You traveled down to the pier in the next city...You produced some of the strangest powers I've ever seen for a witch.” 

Peridot hesitates before speaking again. She felt a strange presence around her, an energy she hasn't felt in months. “...Mom...” She looks back towards the woods, “it felt like my mom was calling to me.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events, Peridot and Jasper head to her old house to see if she can find any secrets about her birth parents.

Peridot spends the next day resting because of what had happened to her. The energy that built up in her body was let out in such a display Peridot wishes she can do it again. She spends the next two days trying to produce the ability again but all she can do is produce little sparks from her fingers and static that hits Jasper hard enough to make her growl. She's not sure what produced that ability from her and it makes her question more and more about Jasper's own past as a dragon; not just with Peridot but on her own. As a dragon, Jasper's skin was dark with mixtures of red from the different stripes and patterns across her skin. Peridot knew the different types of dragons and how sometimes they solely related on color for their power. For example, Jasper was red and a burnt dark orange in her dragon form and she had abilities of fire but a dragon with the color of green would have abilities relating to poison or other form of gases. 

Jasper didn't just have the element of fire attached to her but other magical abilities outside of the one to fly, strength and bite radius. She could do almost every time of spell a witch could do and she was a perfect partner to help Peridot learn more. With Jasper's aid Peridot felt as if she was becoming stronger as a witch every day and it was something the hunters were never able to help her with. It wasn't just the magic but different parts of their relationship that Peridot had never had before. Even with her adoptive mother—whom she loved—nothing compared to Jasper. It's why the dragon was so obsessed with making sure Peridot was doing well. Especially after the sleepwalking and the new stir of power on top of the normal pregnancy symptoms that any woman was prone to get. 

The cravings she was starting to obtain weren't for normal foods but some of the strangest things imaginable like specific meat from an ogre or goblin and even rare juices. She assumes it's the dragon because of the carnivorous tendencies they had. She's fine with a bag a candy for now and trying to track down her birth parents while Jasper grills her about her mother. She likes to pretend she didn't feel that presence around her when she was sleepwalking because she doesn't want to go through the feeling of that loss for a third time.

They didn't talk much about what Peridot felt during that time because Peridot didn't want to talk about it. She watched Pearl slit her mother's throat while she was being held back by another hunter and if that presence was somehow her mother and she was still alive. She didn't want to think about that, not with everything going on now. It doesn't help that Jasper has been acting so weird ever since the night they were at the pier. She's been almost analyzing Peridot and sometimes takes her arm and examines it. Peridot's asked several times to stop or what she was doing but Jasper only mumbles to herself and ignores her. It happens many times just like the current moment where Jasper's hands were in Peridot's hair and she was parting her locks as if it looking for something. 

“If you don't stop.” She starts as she picks up a piece of candy from the bag never to her and unwraps it. “What are you doing?” She swats Jasper's hands away after eating the candy. 

“Okay, okay.” She walks around the front of the couch where Peridot is sitting. “I have a theory.” 

“What's your theory?” She raises an eyebrow as she grabs another piece of candy to eat.

“I think it's possible you might be a dragon.” 

She nearly chokes on the candy, “what?! Jasper, I am a witch. I have no other powers and I cannot shift into what you can do. Besides, you've known my past lives for thousands upon thousands of years. Have I ever been a dragon?” 

“No, but you're not always a witch. You were a mermaid once.” She chuckles. 

“Well, I can't swim so that sounds like a horrible time.” 

“Makes sense. You did die by drowning.” Jasper sits down on the couch next to her. “Peridot, you're not always the same in every single life. Usually, you have some sort of magical residue that trails along so sometimes you're a witch and sometimes you're the components of what makes a witch, a witch. You've never been human and I think with the powers that I've seen you control that you're either an elemental or there's dragon blood somewhere inside that tiny body of yours.” 

“What's an elemental?” 

She hums, “it's like...You know how there's fire, water, earth and air?” 

She nods, moving on the couch to get better access to her snacks. 

“Well, they're all considered the classic elements and at a time aether was also a part of them. It's like this material that filled a region of the universe. The elements divided over thousands of years of witches being with an elemental and then dragons and powers changed and grew and now we have ten elements. There is; air, earth, fire, water, darkness, electricity or lightning—which is what you are gaining the ability to do—energy, ice, light, and gravitation. Then we have sub-categories that an elemental doesn't normally fall into it such as weather or time.” 

“You're a dragon though and you have powers of an element.” 

“Yes, but an elemental is solely a power source. It's almost as if they are made from that energy and it's what they control and are controlled by. Dragons have abilities outside of those norms. It's why I think you might have dragon blood in you. Even if you have no signs and show no abilities outside of that power of yours. I really think we might be looking at a very difficult pregnancy for you.”

“Because?” She shifts on the couch to look at Jasper fully. 

“Because you have powers that are not in your control and a child growing inside of you who is a new source for all of your power and energy. You're going to have issues controlling all of that and I'm sure I can be of some service when things get rough.” Jasper chuckles.

Peridot squints at her, “are you...Seducing me?” She's extremely confused but the way Jasper said those words sounded as if she was trying to. 

“Well, dragons can store massive amounts of power and I can help take the edge from those powers. I'm not saying right now but it's just a reminder for the future.” Peridot groans at her. “What's wrong?” 

“Nothing. I just have you trying to tell me you're going to fuck me to keep my powers in check and then I'm just getting nowhere with adoption agencies. How hard it is to get files to find out these things? Apparently super when the place burned down ten years ago,” she huffs, “want to ransack my mom’s place with me and see if she has any information?” 

“Sure, I'll get your shoes.” 

The fact that Peridot spent more time at what was once her mother's house in the past year than she has in her entire life was something she thought about a lot. She was adopted at as a child, went to a boarding school until she graduated high school and only saw her mother during vacations. Even when she graduated, she studied overseas for college for two years and when she came back she never really saw her mother. She was always consumed by her work and due to the recent events, Peridot now knew why. Her mother wasn't a bad woman—outside of what she was trying to do—and Peridot did love her but she often thinks her mother was keeping hundreds of other things from her not just about her plans. It made sense to her because Peridot knew nothing about her birth parents and barely even remembered anything about them. She had no reason for not remembering anything about them and the only thing she ever happened to remember was her birth name because her mother had called her by it until her name change when she was older. She spent most of her life clinging onto that name with hopes she'd be able to find out who her parents were. 

Growing up as a witch didn't make things any easier either. Her mother couldn't help her and Peridot was stuck learning how to control her growing powers on her own. The boarding school helped to an extent because she could meet other creatures like herself, but nothing really clicked until she went back home and met the demons involved with her mother. Peridot learned so much from them when it came to fighting and spell casting. Even demons were more helpful than the hunters had been in her experience and in her educated opinion she felt that hunters were wasting her time. Well, her mother instilled those values on her. About how hunters spent all this time tracking down sorcerers, pixies and demons and couldn't live up to the job and properly getting rid of them. How pathetic they were and how weak they were. Peridot understood what she meant. 

Peridot understood her mother a lot more after she died than she did at any other time in her life. There was something different about her than the others and she wondered sometimes just how human was her mother really. She knew so much about magic that even other creatures and hunters didn't know and whilst it was suspicious, Peridot just accepted her mother was possibly protective? Ridding the world of magic seemed like such a stupid idea that the hunters came up because Peridot knew what her mother was really trying to do. She was trying to get rid of the hunters.

Peridot has already accepted the fact that the force field she put up around the house would not let Jasper through but Jasper breaks into it anyway because that was Jasper for you. The shield is still steady for now but Peridot must make sure she reinforces the spell before they leave. Jasper has never been in the house before and Peridot needs to lead her to her mother's office which is where they're headed again. It's been a few weeks since Peridot has visited and she can smell the fresh scent of lavender in the air and can tell the housekeeper has been here recently. Things look unchanged but the pile of books Peridot brought down from the shelves last time has been put away and the office just looks a lot tidier than when she left it last time. 

“There's a secret room in here.” Peridot speaks and Jasper looks at her. She's standing far away near the hallway and Peridot wonders if she's scared or just being cautious. “Fulgurite.” She speaks, waiting for the mechanics to work and the door to hiss open in the wall of one of the bookshelves. She didn't think there would be any information in the hidden room but she wanted to see if she could find anything related to her dreams and sleepwalking or possibly just take a few books to bring home. “I found this room when I was in here last time and honestly there's only one person in this town that would know all of my mom’s secrets so I called her and asked her to come.” 

“People still-” She stops talking the moment she senses someone and her instincts kicked in. She leaves the office and wonders off down the halls. 

“People still what?” Peridot asks as she turns to look at the dragon but she's gone. “Jasper?” She calls the woman's name but her response is a high-pitched yell when a young woman is suddenly thrown into the office room. 

“I didn't come here to be manhandled by some brute!” She shouts, standing up from the floor and fixing her pale-yellow blouse.

“Jasper, apologize!” Peridot yells at her when she comes back into the room. 

“No. She shouldn't be sneaking around here.” 

“I wasn't sneaking around. Besides, how did you get past the barrier? Only the housekeeper, Peridot and I can get past it and you clearly are not human and don't give me that, 'I'm a witch,' nonsense.” She looks over to Peridot, “gross, you're pregnant. So, why am I here?” 

“How do we make her stop talking?” Jasper looks over to Peridot. 

“Can both of you behave?” She crosses her arms, “Jasper, this is Pearl, Pearl this is Jasper.” 

“How many Pearl's do you know?” Jasper asks as she examines the woman. Her hair is a golden blonde and perfectly coiffed, her eyes were a strange shade of gold and everything about her, down to the yellow tinge of her skin screamed she was a pixie. 

“Three, actually. Pearl, I need your help.” 

“I know, that's what you said over the phone but you didn't really explain what you-” She stops herself and comes over to the opened bookshelf, her heels clicking against the hardwood flooring loudly. “How did you open this?” 

“I'm a witch.” Peridot replies with an obvious fact.

“No. You don't understand. Diamond told me specifically that the spell to open this only picks up on vocal recognition. So, she's the only person who can open this or anyone who is related to her because of the similarities the spell can pick up.”

“Well, she is my adoptive mother?” Peridot raises an eyebrow. 

“Are you stupid?” Pearl asks and Jasper growls at her. “Everything Diamond has ever set in this house...Secret passages, secret rooms, even the safe in her bedroom can only be opened by her or someone related by blood. Witches and other spell casters happen to have that one ability no one else can do and can create spells and barriers and potions that don't effect or only effect blood relatives.” Her mother wasn't a witch and she was never curious to find out how she did what she did.

“Yeah, I'm going to assume that's not the case for this room because I was adopted. That's why I asked you to come here because you know where my mother kept her computer.”

“Of course, she meticulously kept records of everything and I'm the one who organized her documents for her. If it exists, it's on that computer but if it doesn't exist, then you're out of luck.” Pearl moves over to the desk and sits in the chair before fiddling around with some sort of device underneath the desk. A lock clicks and a drawer in the desk opens which has a laptop sitting neatly inside of it. “She kept her files on this computer but I have a copy as well.” 

Peridot lets Pearl sit and work on the computer files. She notices Jasper who seems to be glaring at Pearl still, arms crossed and ready to attack her like a wild animal. “Stop it.” She comes over to Jasper, “I'm serious.”

“Who is this woman?” Jasper looks at Peridot, the look in her eyes bright eyes growing softer when she does. 

“She was my mother’s secretary...”

“Uh huh. I'm sure she's more than that because her energy is screaming se-

“Ah! Let's not talk about that.” The last thing Peridot wanted to have a conversation about was her mother and the woman she was having sex with.

“What are you even looking for?” Pearl asks and Peridot turns to the desk. 

“I want my adoption records or honestly anything related to it or maybe even hospital records. I don't really know what my mother kept on that computer but I'm just hoping she has something that can be helpful.”

“No, I get it. Trying to figure out the shit traits your future child is going to have. What kind of monster did you shack up with anyway?” 

“No and I'm ignoring your question.” Peridot rolls her eyes as she walks over to the desk. Trying to explain that Jasper was the one who impregnated her in the first place was hard enough that whenever someone asked who the 'father' was she would lie and say they were another witch. “I just don't remember anything about my parents. The only thing I ever remember is the crash.” 

“Well, all I'm seeing are news clippings of the accident you were in and the medical records from them. There are some medical bills, your mother's information because it looks like she paid for them.” Pearl calls and Peridot comes closer to look at the computer screen. It was just articles that talked about the crash, the damage to the vehicles, the people involved, the injuries and the deaths. There was a picture of her parents on the article but she can't recall them looking like that...Honestly, she can't remember anything about them. Their names, the color of their hair or eyes, their voice; everything is as if that part of her life didn't happen and didn't exist or she blocked it out. Looking at this picture and reading their names; she has no idea who these people are.

“They're human.” Jasper's voice comes as she stands behind the two women. She was looking over the article, looking at the photos and the names until she came up with her conclusions. There was no distinguishing marks and witches tended to have a unique look to their eyes when it came to their color. Humans didn't have children with magic no matter how many times magic and non-magic crossed over. There was always a trail of power and with proper training even someone with the slightest hint of magical blood could access it.

“Are you sure?” Peridot asks as she continues to skim over the records. 

“Yes. Either Diamond covered up your birth because she wanted to protect you or because she is your real mother.” 

“Huh.” Pearl speaks, “Diamond did give birth.” 

“What?” Peridot blinks as she watches Pearl bring up even older records. 

“I've never brought it up before because you don't just ask your boss those kinds of questions. It was in the nineties I think. I remember seeing the files for it but I don't really know anything else about the child because there are records and medical bills from the hospital but there's no birth certificate or information of what she did after.” 

“That doesn't make sense. Why would she go through all of this and pretend I was adopted? Erase everything I’ve ever had?” 

“She kept secrets even from me. I really don't know. Can I go now?” She shuts the laptop and picks it up, “I'm going to keep this. You don't know any of her passwords so there's no point in leaving it here.” She holds the computer close to her chest as she walks around the desk. 

“Wait, I have a question.” Jasper stops Pearl when she speaks, “is she really dead?”

“I watched her die, Jasper.” Peridot looks at her, not sure what she's getting at.

“Then let me ask something else...If by some chance that this woman is your real mother, how are you a witch? You told me she was human. You have too much power in that body of yours to only have magic from one parent.” 

Pearl turns around and looks at them, nearly laughing. “Is that what she told you? Your mother told you she wasn't a human? It makes sense she would say that but to blatantly lie. Look, she told people she was human so if hunters ever came after her they would do some normal and boring kill. If she told people she was a demon or even the specific type of creature she was she'd have her head cut off; she'd be shot, her bones burned and salted but because she told people she was a human, when hunters came for her they killed her the old fashion way.”

“What are you saying, Pearl?” Peridot asks, feeling herself becoming so frustrated with the woman speaking to her. Not just the words coming out of her mouth but from the shrillness of her voice. 

“To put it simply: She told people she was a human so if she ever were to be killed it would not kill her.” 

“Are you trying to tell me she's alive?” 

“The possibility is extremely high. Have fun finding out.” 

Pearl leaves the office and Peridot listens to her heels tap against the wood and the front door open and shut it. She doesn't feel relief until Pearl's gone. 

She takes a seat in the chair Pearl had been sitting in and drops her head against the desk. That strange feeling inside of her of thinking her mother was more than just a human, that there was more to her than she once thought was now possibly true. Knowing the information just made everything worse for her. She knows she just needs some time to process everything but she also knows there is no time for it. She was pregnant, she was constantly sleepwalking and she was learning things about herself and family that were too much to handle with in her current state. The stress was going to eat her alive.

There were too many things that Peridot still didn't know and none of this information helped her. Whatever her mother was and whatever she was hiding was someone she needed to know and if her mother happened to be alive she wanted to know for sure. She wanted to be the one who found her mother and she wanted to be the one to hurt her for doing all of this to her. 

“She obviously lying. I can-” Jasper speaks but Peridot stops her.

“Stop. It's fine. Just, let me think.” She groans, her mother was calling her for some reason and there was no way to find out why while she was asleep. Maybe it did have something to do with that beach town and she should ask around. It's where Steven lived and it could always be an excuse to go visit him and his dad. They know the place better than she ever would. Peridot sighs, sits up and turns to look at Jasper. 

“Do you want to head back?” Jasper asks, reaching a hand out to Peridot to push strands of her blonde hair behind her ears. 

“Yeah, let me just grab some books from the room.” Peridot stands from the chair, moves to the side room and rummages through the shelves. She's always taking books from the office and bringing them home. Most of them are history books or books about magic but the main book that catches her eyes today is one about dragons. She had noticed it before, a large book with gold and emerald binding but she didn't understand the language and never touched it before now. She picks it up and brings it into the office before setting it onto the desk.

“Can you read this?” She asks, opening the cover of the book. 

“Let me see.” Jasper touches the book and flips through the pages of it. They were thick pages, the lettering seemed to be dipped in gold and silver and the pictures and text was something Jasper hadn't seen in thousands of years. “This book has been remade. I've seen books like it made from amate but the lettering is strange.” 

“How is it strange?”

“Because amate is a type of paper made in Mexico and when I've seen these books in the past they were written in Nahuatl.” She looks at Peridot, “Aztec, essentially. But some of this is Greek and I don't mean standard Greek. It's the alphabet, yes, maybe Eteocretan.” 

“I didn't ask for a lesson on history and linguistics, Jasper. Can you read it?” 

“I could.” She grumbles, “it would take some time to properly translate it since it's not a language used to communicate; it's a language used to survive. They're phrases mostly and it looks as if someone added it in themselves. However, the rest of it is in translatable Greek.”

“How do you know Greek anyway? Where are you even from?” Peridot asks, closing the book and pulling the rest of them from the table to carry. 

“Like, where was I born?” Peridot nods. “Do you really want to know all about me again?” 

“You say it as if I ask you every time we meet.” Peridot smiles as she hands Jasper the books to carry. “We'll start with the basics, okay? Where are you from?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot learns more about Jasper's past and how they first met in their first life together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for a bunch of history of things that definitely happened and I definitely did not make up, mixed in with some light murder.   
> Thanks for sticking around and reading this. I really appreciate it!

“Didn’t you say you were born in Hawaii?” Peridot asks as she glances down at Jasper from the couch. She has a bowl of chips in her lap, more than half of them gone and needs to move every few minutes to reposition herself. She’s completely uncomfortable at almost five months pregnant but grateful to be half way over the ordeal. She promises Jasper that if she makes it past labor, she never wants to experience having another child. 

“Well, it wasn’t called Hawaii when I was born. It was just a bunch of islands.” 

“Right.” Peridot eats another chip before pushing Jasper’s shoulder with her toes. 

“What are you doing?” Jasper turns around, staring at her from the floor. 

“What are _you_ doing?” She repeats. 

“Translating your book. Are you so bored that you are going to keep bothering me?” She turns back to the coffee table, her papers and books spread out over top of it. It’s been three weeks since they’ve obtained the book from Peridot’s old home but Jasper hasn’t been making much headway with her translations. The process of translating the book was much harder than she originally thought because the language itself had been so unique to the time it was written in and the person who wrote it. Even with her knowledge she wasn’t sure if she could do it on her own any longer. Bits and pieces were finished but there were some words and concepts she just didn’t understand. 

“You don’t own a television that works, I can’t go anywhere without the risk of hunters finding me and I’m starting to feel like when I lived with Pearl.” 

“You’re just lying there telling me things you can’t do instead of figuring out what you can do. For example, you could practice your magic.”

“Pass. We could have sex.”

“I’m translating your book.” 

“That’s not a no.” 

“Oh.” She hums, “no. Magic first, sex later.”

Peridot groans, shifting on the couch to put the bowl of chips onto the floor to lay down. “Why don’t you expand on Hawai’i? Are the islands indicative of your human form?”

“Sort of.” 

“Come on, stop being all mysterious.” She huffs, moving to put her arms around Jasper’s neck when she leans against the back of the couch. “I know absolutely nothing of any life I once lived which means I don’t know who you are. Not really, anyway. You could have been a spy! You’re not a spy, are you?”

“No. And, your lives in the past have never been as complicated as this one. There are things you know now and that you are aware of now that you’ve never known before.”

“Like, your parents name?”

“That’s not important because when you die you’ll just forget anyway.” 

“Don’t be a sour puss. I know you’re tired of this but unless you find a way to remember the past thousand years, you’re going to have to tell me.”

“I know. It would just be nice if I didn’t have to lose you.” She sighs, “I guess this is what I would have looked like if I was born today. I normally try to shift into something that fits the era because facial features and body types are something that chance overtime. I lived in what I believe is known as Hawai’i, but this was over fifteen hundred years ago, when it only had a handful of settlers living there.” She puts the pen in her hands down onto her notebook and comes up onto the couch to sit. Peridot puts her feet on her lap the moment she does. “My parents lived there because of the lack of people and the volcanoes. They were both fire creatures and it was natural for them. I was born at the start of spring, and stayed with my parents until I was old enough to go out on my own.” 

“Well, how did you end up here?”

“I followed your magic. Every single time you were reborn you left this trail and it’s easy to sense because of what you were originally when you were first born.”

“Why don’t you just start at the beginning?” She shifts on the couch again, “it’s been weeks and every single time I ask you I get one word responses or cryptic ones. It’s getting sort of creepy.”

“Okay, but try to wait until I’m finished to ask any questions. I’m also going to use locations as to what they would be known today and not thousands of years ago, so you’ll know what I’m speaking of.” She watches Peridot nod. “I was born in the fifth century in what today is known as Mauna Kea. My mother was a typical dragon, my father was a wyvern and I was on their only child and still am after all this time. It’s very hard for dragons to reproduce so the fact you became pregnant is why this life is so strange for the both of us.” 

Peridot tries to speak and Jasper shushes her. “Even though dragons are protective, my parents wanted me to be independent and when I learned to fly they even let me go out on my own. However, I was still very small and they wanted me to wait until I was older to travel but when I was old enough I ended up in several countries. I learned to fight, learned different languages, fell in love, and all while disguising myself with a human form to keep others from knowing what I really was.”

“During my travels, I began to have very strange dreams and even to this day I do not know what they were referring to, but my dreams showed the Gods and Goddesses. After those dreams I began to hear rumors and stories of sightings of Leto, of the birth of her children, Artemis and Apollo, of other Gods and even rare creatures. I knew there were other creatures like me, but I had never come across them during my life. The news that there were so many people out there just like me, that there was all this magic centered into one place, was something I desperately wanted to be a part of. I decided to go to Greece because of it, the place that was the star in these rumors and stories I kept hearing of.”

“When I came to the Greece, I ended up in Crete, and the connection and the energy I felt in that place was something I’ve only ever felt around my own parents; but it was even stronger than that. Paximadia are these two uninhabited islands near the gulf and during that time were named after a God and Goddess. The first was Dionysus, and the second was Leto. The connection of the name of the islands, and the rumors I heard was beginning to make sense but I still didn’t know what I was doing there on that island. I was drawn to something other than just the power I felt and this was before I understood reincarnation and what connects their pasts to their futures.”

“So, what was it? What brought you there?” Peridot asks even though Jasper has finished her story. She had moved during the process of Jasper speaking to sit next to her, sliding a hand into her hair and pressing her fingers to her scalp and dragging her hand through the locks.

“A phoenix. A phoenix had been on the island and I believed she was waiting for the Gods to return. It was only a story at the time, but I think people were so determined to see them with their own eyes, and to know they were more than just a story. I went to the island every single day and sometimes slept there until something happened. Nothing ever did, but one morning I decided to speak to the phoenix on the islands. She would normally never say anything to anyone who spoke to her. All she would do is stare out towards the ocean or in the direction of the sun, and would wear these sheer red and orange dresses that matched the colors in her wings. When she did finally speak to me…” Jasper chuckles, “she scolded me for staring at her. I asked her if she knew why I was here and if the rumors were true but she told me, “I think you came for me.””

“Why do I have this feeling that you’re going to tell me I was the phoenix?”

“You catch on quick. I wasn’t sure what exactly you were or how you knew who I was but you just knew. You were born in a pile of ashes, existed to be reborn, and you told me that you were certain you existed for me. You had been waiting to meet with me even before I was born. You had been holding onto the life you were living until you met me so I would know that you were out there and that you existed. I didn’t have a lot of time to spend with you but before you died you gave me a feather; it helped me track each of your lives.”

“A phoenix feather has regeneration abilities. Why didn’t you just use it to keep her…Me? The first time?”

“I don’t know. I guess I’ve always been indecisive about using it because if I do your cycle would cease to exist. You tend to become stronger with each rebirth and each time I hope you will live longer. It’s why I have let you die hundreds of times, because I was waiting for a life where your chance of survival was greater. I’ve never experienced another phoenix since that time and I’ve always been searching for answers about them. I just worry what will happen to our child if you die in this life. I’ve always worried about a lot of things involving you because each time you’re alive again it’s new. This life is just...Something I’ve never experienced.”

“My reincarnation is solely based on me being born a phoenix.” 

“Yes, the main reason is because you have regeneration purposes far beyond the means magic can provide. If you die, you will be reborn and I will find you. It's how it always works. At first it was harder to find you because there was no technology and I had to use spells with the feather to track you. Sometimes they would backfire but I knew it would work eventually. Phoenix feathers and phoenix themselves have this strange aura to them that dwindles away when they first die, but even though it's weak, it's strong enough to be picked up on. When technology came along I usually just looked up hospital records with whomever was born on that same day, at the same time you died. It was a hit or a miss.”

“How did you just decided we were meant to be?” 

“I didn’t decide anything. You had been waiting for me since you were born and phoenix can live for over a thousand years. My only thought is you were there when the Goddess had her children and she gave you some insight because a phoenix represent the very thing Apollo does: the sun. 

“I don’t understand why you cared about me so much to do this for fifteen hundred years or what made you fall in love with me.” 

“Well, even though Apollo was said to be born on those islands…I’ve always believed you to be my sun.

Peridot blushes, “no. That's not what I meant.” Jasper chuckles at her reaction, “stop it. I’m serious. You’re not answering my question.”

“There is still of course much more that I do not understand.” Jasper slips her hand against Peridot’s, interlocking their fingers. “This life of yours is the most confusing and bizarre life I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. You’re not only pregnant, but if you are in fact an elemental, you would been born of the purest of energy that could heal your body and keep it intact. You could live far longer than you have in a very long time.”

“I’m in no condition to live that long, even with a possibility of being an elemental. I’m still a human-” 

Jasper interrupts her, “no, you are not a human. Possessing the body of a human and being one are not the same thing. I’m not human even if I do look as if I am one for the time being.”

“Can you shift back?” 

Jasper raises an eyebrow, “how come? Would you be more comfortable if you could see who I really am and not who I am pretending to be?”

“Why would I deny the form you were born with?” 

“Are you mocking me?”

“A little.” She giggles. 

“Hm.” Jasper pulls her hand and stands up, “you’ve never been fond of this form in any of your past lives but I guess I should stop speaking of them as if they are separate from yours. You are still all those people and I only wish you could remember those lives.”

“Aren’t there memory spells?” Peridot reaches for her bowl of chips before standing up, moving to the kitchen to put them into the fridge. She grabs a bottle of water before coming back into the living room and waiting for Jasper’s answers.

“It’s just trickier with reincarnation. I’ve never found a spell to properly mimic what I am trying to achieve. I’ve killed you in a past life for that very reason because you were willing to die to find an answer. After that I began to test it on normal people and it always worked on them but never on you.” Jasper begins to clean up the living room, organizing the papers on the coffee table and closing the book before putting them away on the bookshelf. 

“Well, what about the feather? They’re powerful in spells and potions. Maybe that’s what it’s for.” 

“I don’t want to risk destroying it.”

“What about past life regression?”

Jasper makes a face, “that sounds like a hoax.”

“What about a dream weaver? Or an angel? What about my mother? She knew the ins and outs of Obsidian Market and I’m sure Pearl might know something, seeing she was her assistant for so many years. I know you’ve probably been searching alone but I can help.”

“Why are you always willing to risk yourself, your own life to help me?”

She shrugs, “maybe because I’ll just be reborn again? Have you ever kept the fact I was reincarnated from me?”

“Yes, but somehow you find out on your own. Then, eventually you will die and be reborn and I’ll have to wait again. You don’t understand how tired I am of waiting. It feels like I’ve spent so little time with you and what happens if you die again? If our daughter survives, she will be much older than you when you are finally reborn. She will never get the chance to even know her mother.” 

“Jasper, I don’t know what you want me to say or do. I get that you’ve dealt with this for like two thousand years but you need to stop sulking about it. Every single time I’m reborn you get closer to the life you want to have with me. And I get that it’s taken a hell of a lot longer than you want it to but you should just accept it. Even if you and I are fated to be together, it doesn’t mean this is going to go smoothly. Maybe it won’t be for another hundred years or even another thousand but it will happen and you will get that life you want.”

“You know how many times I’ve heard that speech in my lifetime?” 

“Shut up.” She huffs, opening her bottle and taking a long drink of water. 

“I just keep thinking that maybe this time but I’m just lucky to have you no matter what in the end.”

Peridot mumbles, “come on, let’s go outside and I’ll go practice my stupid powers.” She closes her water bottle and sets it down on the coffee table.

“They aren’t stupid.” Jasper tries to argue back but leaves the conversation at that. “Go get your shoes on.”

When they head outside the sun is almost finished setting and a light drizzle of rain is beginning to fall from the sky. Jasper’s made a habit of bringing them outside to practice, there was much more room and the several trees Peridot has destroyed made her thankful for being in the woods. It’s a small clearing right near the house, close enough to see the chimney but far enough where people wouldn’t be able to see them from the porch. There was nothing left to the clearing but broken branches from the trees, and crushed weeds spilling out from the earth in the small, dirt circle. Most of the surrounding trees had lost its leaves from being been burnt or from when autumn began; but the ones left standing with all their branches practically shook when Peridot came around, as if afraid to lose their branches when it was only the wind that went along with the rain. 

Peridot steps forward cautiously, entering the clearing that Jasper has already stood in the center of. She can always feel the sudden power come over her and it’s strong, as if all the energy of the forest is turning into heat and is flowing through her veins. It hurts, burning her insides, but she steps back just to calm herself from the sensation. It takes her a moment to realize it isn’t the forest; it’s the rain. The sky lights up above them and she can see how the light drizzle of rain is slowly turning into a storm. 

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to be out here?”

“If anything, the storm will make your powers stronger. You’ll act like a conduit for the electricity and it won’t harm you.”

“Everything just feels really heavy…Like I’m walking through a fog.”

“Electricity isn’t just electricity, it’s the energy around you and it’s light. It’s extremely powerful and there’s so much stored inside of you that practice can help.”

“I can’t do this…This is so stupid.” She can’t even fathom how to get the sparks to set from her fingertips like she did once before. It’s been happening more and more over the past week, she’ll touch something that’s flowing with energy; a phone, a clock, her car radio, a light, or even Jasper herself and her fingers begin to spark with energy and shock whatever she has touched. She puts her hands out in front of her, tries to focus on letting that power flow from her chest, through her arms and into her hands but she releases a lousy spark but it dissipates in seconds.

“You’re not trying.” 

“Okay, well I don’t know what to do.” She nearly shouts, building a static from her hands that shoots at one of the broken trees behind Jasper. 

The dragon doesn’t flinch. 

“Your powers are controlled by your emotions. It’s why you need to relax.”

“I don’t need to control this. I need this to go away.” Peridot tries to appear so adamant about this but Jasper doesn’t believe her words. She drops her hands, rubbing the palm of her left hand where the power had come from.

“You cannot just make this go away. It’s an enhancement of your natural abilities, of things you were born with and that possibly the pregnancy forced to emerge sooner in your life, before you are ready to control them. It happens when you have a powerful source of energy growing inside of you.” Jasper walks up to Peridot, “turn around.” She does so, and Jasper grabs her shoulders to reposition her stance. “I know you’re afraid but I need you to trust me.” She trails her hands down Peridot’s arms, “feel the energy inside of you building up. Let it flow from your core and don't let your emotions and any fears or frustrations get to you. Think about when you first started to practice magic, you weren't perfect and it took time to build your powers to where they are now.”

Peridot tries to focus on Jasper’s voice, tries to summon the static back from her fingers and lets it rise off her skin but it constantly pools to her hands or right in the center of her chest and it hurts more than anything. The only thing she finds herself able to do is to shock Jasper which makes her let go of her. She doesn’t apologize and turns back around to look at Jasper. It takes her a second to focus on the woman because she can hear footsteps off in the distance.

“Something’s blocking your powers from producing naturally. It could be many things but when the energy gathers into your hands you should be able to control that energy. Try to aim at me.”

“I’m not going to aim at you.”

“Do it.” She demands.

“Tell me about the woman you fell in love with before me and I’ll think about it.”

Jasper blinks, “how do you know about that?”

“Haven’t you mentioned her?”

“No. I mentioned I fell in love but it was before I met you and I never mentioned it was a woman. I mean, I have told you about it but it was two hundred years ago, to a past self.” She pauses. “Are you, remembering things about your past lives? Do you—Do you know her name?”

She doesn’t try to think about it because a name instantly comes to mind but she doesn’t speak it. She doesn’t want to have this conversation right now. She decides to look down at her hands, watching the power kiss her finger tips. The rumble of thunder breaks the concentration she has and the electricity vanishes from her hand. She keeps quiet for a minute, let’s the cool wind and drops of rain calm her down but it doesn’t help due to the rustling of the trees and the whispers out in the woods. She looks at Jasper, “what is that noise?”

“Hunters, if I’m not mistaken, and they’re human. Do you want me to kill them?”

Peridot hesitates, “…just get rid of them. I don’t care how.”

“Close your eyes.” Jasper leans forward, kissing the top of her head before leaving her to stand in the clearing with her eyes shut. Jasper trusts Peridot will be fine because hunters don’t go after witches to kill them. The ones who hunt for them want them for spells, for their knowledge, or a bounty that has been placed on their head but those things are rarer these days. Humans are obsessed with learning magic, spells they cannot possible understand or gain control over and Jasper’s usually there to help clean up those messes. Many don’t know Peridot even exists in the first place, just Pearl, Garnet and the other hunters who lived in their home. It made Jasper curious why they were here but she was more concerned with protecting Peridot at this point.

Not only can she smell the hunters but she can see them, different colors highlighting their veins and vital organs in the distance. She can see exactly where to claw or bite, exact limbs to sever to cause sudden deaths, and even the source of power in creatures of magic. She was a dragon, a creature born to protect and people in her territory were simply people who deserved to die. The first person she finds comes to her, he’s close to the house and wielding a tomahawk. He doesn’t look threatening, more scared that he got caught lurking but Jasper wants him gone. She gets rid of him in seconds by grabbing his arm when he swings at her and twisting it behind his back until the bone snaps. It’s easy, the sound of pain and the cries of anguish are sounds she’ll easily forget. She knows the sounds have alerted the others, she can hear them running in the far distance and light chattering amongst them. She kills him before climbing onto the roof of the house for a better view.

She waits there, watching the others come closer to the house before stumbling upon the man’s body. She likes the element of surprise, jumping down and burning them with the heat of her hands, slashing at their chests and the scent of blood that comes from it. They try to fight her, even while clinging to the end of their lives but they barely lay a scratch on her. When she’s sure they are dead she heads back to the clearing, wiping the blood on her hands onto the fabric of her pants. She can sense two hunters in the clearing, can see one man holding a rifle in her direction and the other standing next to Peridot. There’s a blade in his hand but he doesn’t seem to be threatening her with it, just chatting.

“Jasper, it’s fine. They’re here for me.” She speaks when Jasper comes closer, keeping her distance from the hunters. “They’re hunters who used to train at the house. Pearl must have sent them to bring me back to the house.”

“And I don’t know how happy Pearl would be with the fact we had some casualties tonight. Her and Garnet go through a lot of trouble to train us and give us a place to stay and you’re going around screwing everything up. It took a lot to keep everyone’s mouth shut about you being Yellow’s kid, but I’m not here because Pearl asked me to come here. You know how many people were screwed over by that woman and didn’t get the chance to take her out themselves?”

“The only people who were screwed over were disgusting hunters like you.” Peridot hisses.

“You think you’re so high and mighty now? Why? Because you’re pregnant with some bastard child? You’re just a human, as lowly as everyone else around here but even more so than a hunter. I’ve got you beat, kid.” He smiles, “I’m going to sell you to the highest bidder and I don’t think they care if you’re dead or alive so we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” He twirls the blade in between his fingers.

“Peridot—” Jasper starts to speak, but is quickly interrupted by her.

“Kill them. Just do it.” She covers her ears, closing her eyes tightly so she doesn’t have to hear or see. Peridot counts to herself as she does so, to clear out the muffled groans and screams, the two gunshot blasts but it doesn’t make the strong scent of blood go away. The rain comes down harder, it helps wash away that scent but she feels like she’s on the verge of tears, knowing she needs to do something about Pearl and Garnet coming after her, about the other hunters who knows she exists. If anything, she wants to protect her baby and protect Jasper.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot begins to struggle with the power and memories of her past.

If Peridot wanted one thing in her life besides the happiness and healthiness of her future children, it would be to know who and what she was. It started with those vivid dreams, and then the sleep walking, her new developing powers, and now she’s starting to believe this was all some cruel prank from the Gods or whoever lied to her about who she really was. She knew she wasn’t just a witch or an elemental or whatever new thing Jasper was suggesting but whatever she was, was developing powers far too fast for her body to handle.

It wasn’t just emotions that drove her powers out of control, but the raging thunder storms filling the east coast over the past two weeks. The first one started the night the hunters had attacked and she had minimum control over her powers. It was just electricity flowing through her skin but it began to grow violently, causing volts of power to form in her hands against her will and create shocks around electronics and lights. The more intense the storms became; her powers followed suit.

The electricity quickly turned into a heat, a scorching heat that rose her body temperature to deathly degrees and left a residual effect on anything she touched. The heat was something Jasper could relate to—being a creature made of flames—but her only advice was to relax. But, she can’t relax with this heat rising throughout her body and it’s where her constant doubt that she isn’t a witch or an elemental comes from. Witches don’t have the type of powers she was developing and there was no hope in the guess she was an elemental with the change of electricity to fire. 

Every single time she believes she’s becoming better and that her powers are settling down, a sudden spark causes them to become even more out of control. Last night, not only did she set the lamp on fire but left burn marks on the porcelain counter in the bathroom in the shape of her handprint. The bathroom is where she’s been hiding ever since the onset of the heat, hidden away in the bath tub with a thick layer of ice she conjured up so it wouldn’t melt at her incessant heat.

On top of everything else, her focus was completely lost the past few days. Everything was distracting to her including sounds and sensations and all she wanted to do was hide under her covers until it stopped. Hiding didn’t stop the voicing, or daydreams of practically endless hallways with hundreds of shut doors that refused to open no matter how hard she tried to open them. Every so often she’d go back into that daze and a door was cracked opening or the sound of a lock unlatching would play in her head.

_“Pearl’s here.” Peridot hears the words but it takes her a moment to put a name to the voice. Of course, it was Jasper. She reaches over the tub for her glass to take a sip of her water before groaning. “Have you forgotten we need her to be a conduit for the spell?”_

_“I can’t do this.”_

_“We need you to.” She puts her arms out to help Peridot out of the bath tub and wraps her in a towel before pulling her into their bedroom. “I’ve set up everything with the ingredients that you’ll need so all you have to do is bake cookies with them and make sure Pearl eats and I’m sure the boy can do the rest. They trust you.”_

Peridot groans, trying to remember things that have happened over the past few days was hard, increasingly so.

_“It won’t take too long and Bismuth and I will be here setting up the babies’ room.”_

_“Who?”_

_“Bismuth.”_

_“And who is she again?”_

_“She’s…Complicated.” Jasper smiles, leaning down to press a kiss against Peridot’s head. “It won’t take too long and you can kick them out afterwards and go back to your cold prison.”_

_“Fine, I’ll do it but I won’t enjoy it.” Peridot makes a face as she drops the towel onto the bed and moves to the dresser to put on dry clothes. She hasn’t worn clothes in days besides an occasional robe to answer the door when Bismuth came by. A simple tank top and shorts are good enough for her because even with the air conditioner on full blast in the house, she can’t manage any sort of warmth at this point. “Do you think that we could try that thing again?”_

_“It’d be helpful if I knew what you were talking about.” Jasper says as she leaves the bedroom and Peridot follows her. “Honestly, it doesn’t matter which one you’re talking about because I’m not exactly happy that you practically electrocuted me last night and touching you isn’t exactly tempting when your body runs hot enough to burn mine.”_

They planned this all out and performed it just a day go, deciding their best bet was to create a potion to wipe the memories of Pearl, Garnet, Steven and all of the hunters who remembered them. The spell itself was easy but some of the ingredients for the potion were hard to come by. They were things such as datura, yellow root, black French truffles, and body parts belonging to creatures Peridot didn’t know had even existed. All Peridot had to do was to get Pearl to trust her for an hour, maybe two, and bake the potion into something that she knew they would all consume.

Jasper found the ingredients, crafted the potion, and even taught Peridot some basic potion crafting. It was something she has never done before, never having a proper kitchen to make such crafts or having the knowledge to do such a thing. She’s always had her basic magic, her knowledge and abilities to conjure were also things people envied. Jasper even mentioned how impressed she had been with this reincarnated life of hers. It was so much stronger than the ones in the past but Peridot knew her unborn child was the main purpose of that.

Peridot was always so suspicious of Jasper, because she couldn’t remember her from her past lives just from the connection they’ve always shared. Jasper had such an extensive knowledge of magic, witchcraft, languages, and subjects and hobbies she learned just because Peridot’s past life had known them. Peridot didn’t remember any of that. She was supposed to be some great witch but she didn’t know who she really was, why her powers were developing so abnormally but Jasper has complete trust that it’s going to be okay in the end. No matter what happened.

All Peridot cared about was keeping herself and Jasper safe from the others. She wanted to get away from all of this but she couldn’t just leave Ocean Town and forget her past because of her future. She wanted to remember everything and she has tried everything in her arsenal to remember. Small details and skills were coming back to her like the name of the woman whom Jasper was once in love with or how to perfectly cook fish when she had been horrible at cooking her entire life. Maybe Jasper had been wrong about not being able to remember who she was or something was happening in this life that was causing her memories to come back. Maybe it was just a coincidence? She groans loudly because she just doesn’t have a single idea.

The only thing she knows for sure is that the heat taking over her body was best contained in her bathtub and she doesn’t want to move from it for any reason, ever again.

“Are you okay?” Jasper calls out to her and she whines in response. “You cannot just stay in there. You need to get out.” She comes into the bathroom and Peridot looks up at her. “Come here.”

“Leave me alone.”

“At least lay down in the bed, it can’t be very comfortable for you in there.”

“I’d rather be uncomfortable and not feel as if my entire body is on fire, thank you very much. I’ll survive.”

“It can’t be good for you or for the baby. You’re going to go into shock trying to rapidly cool your body at such a high temperature to begin with. You’ve been in there off and on all day, come on.” Jasper reaches down into the tub to wrap her arms around Peridot and pull her up and out of the bathtub. Peridot doesn’t have time to protest and fight because Jasper’s already so much stronger than she is to begin with. Peridot groans, already feeling the incessant heat rising back up the moment Jasper brings her into their bedroom and puts her on the bed. “Relax. I know you’re in pain but worrying isn’t going to make you feel any better.”

“This feels worse than that time I was shot.”

“When were you shot?” Jasper asks, watching Peridot situate herself onto the bed with pillows beneath her to help support her back.

“I don’t know. A while ago?”

Jasper sits down onto the bed with her. “How long is a while ago?”

“Let’s see,” she starts, pushing wet hair out of her face. “When was I in Europe?”  

“Never. You lived in South Korea for a while but you moved back out here when you were younger.”

She grumbles, “okay so when was I born in Corsica?”

“1820s if I remember correctly. Better question, why do you remember being born there?”

“So, that’s when I was shot.” She nods, “it was after the war when archery became a recreational activity. Someone shot me with an arrow through the shoulder.”

“Peridot, why do you remember that?” Jasper asks again and Peridot looks at her and shrugs. “I’ve never experienced you remembering anything from another life like you are now. Sometimes it might be a simple name or an event you remember happening while being alive, but never details like that.”

“I don’t know. I’ve been remembering all sorts of things likes dates, names, people. Whenever I dream I just see this endless hallway of past events but a lot of the doors are locked and I feel like I’m chasing something but I don’t really know what it is. It just gets really hot, like I’m being burned alive and I wake up feeling the same way I do now.”

“And why didn’t you tell me about this?”

“I don’t know. I just wanted to figure it out on my own. Even when my mother was alive I was still doing things and learning things all on my own without anyone’s help. Even with Pearl, I was still very secretive about these things. I get that I can trust you but it’s hard when I still don’t know what is happening to me.”

Jasper lays down next to Peridot, “well, I assume we will figure it out together. I understand that not knowing is frightening but please talk to me about this.”

She nods. “I’ll try.” She sighs, “did you call Pearl?”

“I personally went over to make sure the potion worked and they were all unconscious when I went over there. When they wake up, they shouldn’t remember anything.”

“And Steven?”

“I made sure he has an antidote. You really love little kid, don’t you?”

“He reminds me of someone but I don’t know who. Maybe it’s another past life thing.”

“Maybe it was his mother? You were alive long before I was born so it’s possible you knew her.” Jasper cautiously reaches her hand out, laying it against Peridot’s growing belly. She can’t feel that heat radiating from Peridot’s skin any longer but the woman still seems uncomfortable. “How are you feeling?”

“Hot and tired. I keep hearing a sound like…Wings flapping?”

“You should try to sleep. I can wake you up in the morning and we’ll just go from there.”

Peridot tries to breathe and keep relaxed without the crutch of the cold and it’s hard at first but she falls asleep rather quickly with Jasper next to her. She has always appreciated the warmth of Jasper’s touch because it’s nothing that makes her feel any hotter, just comforted. Jasper always likes to pull Peridot in close and run her fingers through her hair, stays with her until she falls asleep but it’s hard in this predicament. Jasper can’t hold onto her for as long as she wants to because the heat from her skin starts to burn hers and Jasper has no choice but to pull away from her and trust that she is fine on her own.

Peridot seems okay on the outside while she is asleep. She’s breathing which is always a plus, she isn’t setting the bed on fire and she seems content within herself. However, the dream she keeps having is turning into a nightmare. The endless hall seeming to have turned ablaze, the wooden doors and floors are crumbling apart into nothing and she’s in the middle of all this heat. The air is becoming so dry and the smoke and flames are invading her insides. Her own skin begins to crumble, flaking away and turning into ashes. She panics, feeling her entire existence disappear into ash and flame until she’s laying naked and unconscious in the center of it all.

Her eyes open and she suddenly sits up, surrounded by not only the ash but also feathers of bright reds and deep oranges. She watches them all float around her, falling onto the ground and disintegrating into ash. She looks up and there’s a mirror against the wall in front of her and she’s staring at herself but not the her she is now. Maybe it was a past life but the person kept repeating her real name.

“Seong Cho-rok.” Her reflection speaks and she slowly stands up. Peridot hasn’t heard anyone call her that name since her mother died. “You are her, are you not?”

Her reflection wasn’t speaking in English to her but Peridot could understand the words so easily. “It’s Peridot.”

“You changed it? Why would you do such a thing?”

“Who are you?”

“I am you. The one that is buried deep within your powers and your memories. I’ve been reaching out for some time but it’s hard to get through such a stubborn girl.”

Peridot brushes a single feather that has fallen onto her shoulder, “what is this?”

“My memories or should I say _our_ memories. I trust in time you will remember everything. All I can tell you is that when I was alive, and I first met the dragon, I was in a similar situation as to yours now. That’s what has kept this reincarnation cycle very much alive. Up until now, the situation was never properly recreated.”

“What situation?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Her reflection begins to fade away from the mirror.

“Wait! Who am I? What am I? You have to answer me that.”

“You are what you were born. A phoenix. The reincarnation cycle just was never proper enough for you to remember and for you to become what you were destined to be. Give it time, another month or so and you should finally remember everything. Tell that dragon, too. It’s a shame she has been seeking answers for so long and no one has been able to tell her. Just remember for now that who I was, you most certainly will become. We are the same after all.” The mirror begins to crack before it breaks into hundreds of pieces and crumbles into ash.

Peridot wakes up.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridot's memories begin to come back and she's afraid of what it could mean for her future child.

“So, you remember everything?” Jasper asks, staring menacingly at Peridot.

“Yup.”

“ _Really_?” 

“Affirmative.”

They’re staring at each other, Peridot on the right side of the couch and Jasper on the left. The only thing between them is the bowl of popcorn Peridot occasionally looks down at every now and again to take a piece to eat. Jasper’s been like this all day, ever since Peridot started to piece together more and more of her past lives. Certain remarks she might make or things she brings up.

“I don’t believe you.”

“Sucks for you.” She shrugs, reaching down for her cup she has stuffed in between her thighs. She takes a sip, then eats another piece of the popcorn. “Can I go now? Pretty sure this child thinks my bladder is a punching bag.”

“No.”

Peridot groans, she doesn’t know why she even bothered telling Jasper. About her dreams, about what was happening to her memory. Her powers have even settled down over the past few weeks with the finishing line of her pregnancy in sight. She was going to be seven months in just a couple of days and didn’t want to jinx it by using her powers any more than she needed to.

“What year were you living in Georgia?”

“Which Georgia?”

“The country.”

“During the Bagrationi dynasty. Specifically, when Tamara ruled as queen in 1184. Can you get me some candy?”

Jasper nods, getting up off the couch. “Japan?”

“Which time?”

Jasper walks into the kitchen, opening a cabinet to get a bag of gummies from it. She had hidden them from Peridot in a place she couldn’t reach. “Pick one.”

“The time where I was a geisha before the war or the time where you and I did that thing with your-”

Jasper stops her by throwing the bag of candy at her and hitting her leg. “Don’t finish that sentence.”

“Did I just embarrass you? You’re a dragon. Are you—Are you blushing?”

“Russia.” She says firmly, trying to move the conversation to anything else.

Peridot wedges the cup back in-between her thighs and opens the bag of candy. “Evgeniya Zakharova. I was a ballet instructor and you almost got me killed, twice.” She eats a few pieces of her gummies. “I deserve to eat this entire bag. Good job, Peridot.” She tells herself with a nod.

“How do you just remember everything because of your dream?”

“Magic.” She says, half joking because she doesn’t know how it happened.

“I’m getting exhausted with your attitude this morning.”

“I’m cranky because you haven’t stopped badgering me with questions since I told you.” She’s about to speak again but that tightening pain in her lower stomach comes back. She either groans or yells, clutching the area. “And that keeps happening.”

“The doctor said it was nothing to worry about. Just keep yourself hydrated and maybe you should try walking around or taking a bath.” She watches Peridot put the dishes onto the table as she struggles to get up from the couch. “Where are you going?”

“To pee. Or can I not do that without you following me?”

Peridot leaves the living room and Jasper sighs as she begins to clean up the bowl and cups from the coffee table to put them into the sink. She washes them out, puts them into the cabinet and tries not to punch a hole in the wall in the process. She’s angry, of course she would be she has spent her entire life trying to figure out a way to get her lover to remember their past together. It was so sudden and didn’t make any sense to her and taking out her frustrations on Peridot didn’t make their relationship any better.

She takes a few minutes to herself before heading to the bedroom, seeing Peridot the moment she walks in who is struggling to rearrange the pillows she’s leaning against. She whines and collapses on the bed, “help me.”

“What are you doing?”

“I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.”

Jasper raises an eyebrow, “uh huh.”

“Help me.” She whines even more, almost on the verge on tears.

“We really need to talk but it’s not going to help if you’re crying.” Jasper says as she comes over, sitting on the bed and helping Peridot sit back up. She pushes her weight into Jasper, leaning into her and Jasper wraps an arm around her. “Are you okay?”

“I have a million thoughts and memories bouncing around in my head and you’re being mean to me. You're wonderful and lovable soulmate who you knocked up.” Peridot pouts childishly.

“I completely understand that you’re stressed both physically and mentally but I just.” She ends her words before finishing her sentence, not even sure she can explain how she feels. “I’ve just been waiting for you to remember who I am, and what we were in the past for so many centuries. I don’t like that you’ve just suddenly remembered and there’s no explanation for it and the fact you aren’t taking this as seriously as I feel you should be.”

“Technically I’m stronger than you right now and you’re making me want to kick your ass.” She huffs, “but technicalities aside-”

“Peridot.” Jasper says firmly.

“Just because I know what happened doesn’t mean I can connect to any of those lives. I’m not really any of those people anymore. I’m just who I am right now: a very pregnant and very annoyed witch. And I get that you’re frustrated but I can’t help that you feel that way. You just have to accept it.”

“But why now? What did I do differently that I have done in the past? And if you remember everything then you should know the reason!”

“Well, I don’t. All I know is that I was pregnant when we first were together and I haven’t been pregnant since then.”

Jasper pulls away from her, “you were pregnant?”

“Yes, but it was only a couple of months along when I died. You were still young at the time so it wasn’t something you could immediately sense and I just knew because it was a partial reason for my death. Creatures like me, we can’t really conceive children but I was in love with you and I guess I was willing to try.” Peridot moves on the bed, pulling a few pillows so she can lean back without the possibility of her back hurting this time or her falling over again. “On some level, I feel like the pregnancy itself had something to do with the memories. I just feel like, maybe I lost a part of who I was when I died.”

“Well, that’s because she is a part of who you are.” Jasper moves to lay down on the bed, close to Peridot but giving her the space she needs. “Are you afraid of what’s going to happen when you give birth?”

“I’m worried if something happens and I die…If the baby breaks my cycle. If this would be my last life or am I still going to be reborn? No one can answer that. As a phoenix, I just tend to die when it’s time and I can’t tell you when that will even be.”

Jasper reaches out to touch her hand, “sometimes I wonder if that might be a good thing. To completely start over as just yourself.”

“If the baby survives she’d be older than me! That’s weird!” Peridot wrinkles her nose, hitting Jasper playfully. “But, I’ve been alive for thousands of years and I’ve been reborn over fifty times. It’s just exhausting.”

“More, or less so then being pregnant?”

Peridot thinks about it, dropping a hand to her belly. “Both experiences are equally exhausting.”.


	10. Chapter 10

The scent of blood and the most excruciating pain imaginable are the last two things Peridot remembers.

There was something about hospitals that Jasper and Peridot equally hated. For Jasper, it was because she wasn’t human and the dragon part of her was rare and unique. Doctors could easily force her there and do experiments but Jasper was careful about showing that side of her to just anyone. For Peridot, it was due to an accident she suffered as a child. The crash that killed her parents and put her in the hospital with a broken leg and three broken fingers. Ever since then she’s hated coming here but with her pregnancy she had no choice.

Things were complicated; Peridot was in a body that was mostly human but with a powerful being growing inside of her. That alone was causing the complications in her pregnancy. There was blood loss, the intensity of the contractions, and the pain was locking up parts of her back and keeping her from moving properly. Laying in the bed was not helping the pain but the doctors couldn’t risk letting her move at this point.

Jasper has had to watch Peridot for three days, lying in a hospital bed with a tube inserted into her throat, and an IV in her right hand. She’s been hooked up to different monitors while she was awaiting a scheduled surgery and neither of them had been scared about any of this. They’ve already spoken about it; the fact Peridot could die and the baby might not survive either. Jasper had to stay strong, she couldn’t act as if she was scared but any nurse or doctor in the room could tell she was terrified. She’s lost her mate dozens of times throughout the years and she didn’t know what to do if she lost her again. Would she be reborn or would she exist as an entirely different person was Jasper’s constant worry.

She tries to stay with Peridot in those short periods of time when she is conscious but she can’t be in the room when Peridot gets taken into surgery.

Jasper sits in the waiting room for over ten hours, staring at the door and being told by doctors and nurses she would have to wait. She could sense that Peridot was still alive, and the scent of their dragon baby was strong and alive as well. There was relief with the birth of their child but Jasper still worries about her mate. She was still unconscious; told by the nurses she was just asleep and would wake up. But, it’s been weeks since then. Six weeks since the baby was born and Peridot still hasn’t woken up yet.

Peridot got to stay in the comfort of their home only after a week of being admitted into the hospital. Jasper often watched over her patiently, or would have a friend drop by to keep an eye on her because sometimes Jasper wanted to stay at the NICU to be with her daughter. It’s where she often ended up going, getting to hold her daughter or watch her rest in the incubator. By the time visiting hours were over, Jasper always felt like she didn’t have enough time to spend with her and that’s when everything around her began to slow down. It started with the movements of the nurses, to the beeping of the machines. It all stops in place and as it does, Jasper can feel a sudden cold against her scorching skin. Suddenly, the door of the room bursts open, the frame hitting against the drywall before bouncing off it twice, and then relaxing in place against it. “I was wondering when you would show up.” Jasper speaks, unalarmed at the sudden intrusion of the presence and the scent of just who the woman was.

She can hear the heels clicking against the linoleum floors, stopping short of where Jasper is standing near her daughter’s bed. “What is so wrong with a woman wanting to see her grandchild?”

Jasper looks up for just a moment, looking at the golden locks of the woman and the deep yellows and browns she was dressed in. It was the first time she had seen Yellow Diamond since her _death two_ years ago. “A lot when you haven’t cared to see your daughter in over two years. Where’s Pearl?”

“I came alone. Is that her?” She steps closer, looking down at the small infant who was unaffected by the change in time around them. “My sources mentioned she had been born and I made sure they kept eyes on her. Things are going to be extremely different with one more dragon in this world.” Jasper doesn’t reply and the woman looks at the infant, “I’m starting to feel like you don’t want me here. Even after everything I did to help you.” She watches the dark eyes of the child as she stares down at her. “Where is Peridot?”

 “You claim to have sources but don’t know of her condition. Interesting.”

“I asked you a question. It would be immensely ill-mannered to not answer me.”

“She’s at home. We both knew that the pregnancy could stress her body but we didn’t know what to degree. She’s been unconscious…Asleep since the baby was born.”

“What’s her name?”

“Do you really care though?” Jasper asks, reaching down to pick up her daughter.

“Why do you act like I’m such a frigid and heinous person? All I’m doing is asking simple questions.”

“Because you are a frigid and heinous person. You’ve never really cared before unless it impacts you.” Jasper moves to sit down in the chair, still clutching her daughter tightly. “Peridot talks about how much she loved you and was willing to look past the notoriety after your death. She was willing to look past everything you did just to know you were still out there.”

“I’ve only ever known you as a supplier and you don’t know me as anything else but a client. Don’t sit there and act like you understand the choices I made or my relationship with my daughter.”

“Well, why don’t you explain them to Peridot? Pearl smelled just like you and it’s how I knew you were alive. I’m not sure how or why you did it, but you still left a daughter prey to hunters.”

“Yes, but you two figured that situation out. She’s strong enough to survive on her own, and now she has you and she trusts you.” She sighs, “there are a lot of things she doesn’t know and it’s easier if she doesn’t. It’s why I never told her she was a phoenix, or I was chosen to give birth to her. I gave her up because I thought she wouldn’t survive in the world I was a part of. Besides, you also knew and didn’t inform her. You can’t blame only me.”

Jasper admits defeat, “her name is Jade. And no, you can’t hold her. Peridot hasn’t even gotten to.”

She turns around after one last glance at Jasper, “I’ll try to keep in touch.”

When the baby turns four months old and is finally healthy enough to go outside, Jasper often takes her down to the beach. It’s a long walk and Jasper constantly finds solace in taking care of her. Spending time with her on a small blanket on the sand, traveling with her into the woods and even showing her the different jewels and treasures in her gems. Jade just is more concerned with trying to put the items her mom gives her in her mouth, and ooh and aah at how shiny they were. Have the baby take up most of her time was something Jasper really appreciated. It helped her not worry as much about Peridot, and ruminate over everything going on but she still cared far too much.

Jasper enjoyed spending time at the beach because it reminded her of when she met Peridot over a thousand years ago. Jade seemed to enjoy it too, because of the way she’d watch the waves came in against the sand, and the pretty seagulls that would fly overhead and come close to her. She’d always giggle, trying to feed them some of her puff snacks but Jasper had to often stop her from doing so. Sometimes they wouldn’t sit on the beach, but they’d just stroll around town, meeting some of the folks who thought Jade was adorable. Steven was one of those people who she’d often see.

When Jasper and Peridot worked on a spell to make the hunters forget, Peridot gave Steven an antidote since he was the one she had trusted the most. He was just a kid but understood emotions better than the others he sometimes stayed with. Peridot had no issue keeping him and his father in her life and Jasper respected her decision to do so. He was sweet, extremely excited when he first saw the baby and wanted to hold her because she was so small. Jasper let him, even let him come down to the sand with them and watch the sunset together. A bit of companionship was nice for Jasper since she has been spending her time locked in the house or out in the woods. Keeping herself away from everyone but the baby and her trusted friend.

It was uncomfortable for her to have people talk with her, be friendly with her and interested in her. She’s spent her entire life just waiting years after years for her mate, not preoccupying her time with friends or family outside of Bismuth or occasionally her mother. She knew people like Yellow, a handful of hunters, but it’s like she gives those people a second thought. Now there were people like Steven and his father, who were genuine people and strangely cared about her, and cared about how Peridot was doing. People caring about her was something she feels she only ever had around Peridot, and reciprocating that feeling with anyone else was challenging.

And she knows things are different now with the baby being around. Jade was someone she had to take care of, and love unconditionally—which wasn’t a challenge at all—and Jasper knows she’d get that same sentiment back no matter how little or how much effort she put into caring for her. She loved her daughter though, as much as she loved Peridot, and as much as she loved her parents when she was a small dragon. She’s changed though, hundreds of years of waiting for her mate and the stress of it all. It was hard for her to remember there were people who could care about her if she let them.

It was just hard for her to acknowledge this and accept it without Peridot to tell her how much she cared and loved her. Five months later and there was little change with the woman. Medically she was fine—or so that’s what the nurses who occasionally came over would tell her—and Jasper could feel she was fine but the worrying would still not stop. She tried to accept it at this point, that there was nothing she could do and tried to just enjoy the time she had alone with Jade.

Peridot does wake up, and it happens the morning Jade turns six months old.

Jasper has spent the last six months trying to put some normality into her daughter’s life. It was unfortunate that she had to be born in a world where dragons were hunted for their powers and abilities, and it was the most she could do was to raise her daughter to have as normal as a life as possible. Every morning, she would prepare meals, the two would eat together and Jasper even went as far as buying a television to watch some of the younger programming made for her. Life growing up for Jade wasn’t going to be as adventurous as it could have been, but Jasper was always hoping she and Peridot could do her best to make it so.

Jade often spent time in her mobile seat, playing with a little toy piano that Greg and Steven had given to her. Jasper had a lot of little toys and knickknacks that they had brought over a few months back and she had appreciated the sentiment. The house however, was slowly turning into a hoard for her daughter’s stuff. A mixture of plastic and electronic toys, stuffed animals that were shelved in her bedroom, too much clothing, and the random nipples from baby bottles that were scattered around the house. Jasper tried to clean up, and while she wasn’t much for neatness she does her best for the sake of the home.

The mess was currently what Jasper was cleaning up when she hears a thud from one of the bedrooms. At first, she assumes it’s the wind and checks Jade’s bedroom where the windows were opened and she shuts them. From the outside, Jasper can see the oncoming storm from far in the distance, the way the clouds fade from their normal blues and whites, to dark grays with the occasional flash of lightning across it. There’s a heaviness of the wind pressing onto the trees, and it distracts Jasper until she hears a crash from her bedroom.

Her instant thought is to check on Jade, who is still sitting in her little chair, giggling while she repetitively hits on the keys on her piano. Then she checks her bedroom where Peridot has been for the past six months, occasionally she would stir on the bed and knock over anything near her. It was normally small things like a lamp, or a nightstand, sometimes almost of the pillows and covers had thrown off the bed. At first, Jasper assumes this is what happened because when she peeks in she some items clattered on the floor but as she opens the door wider; the entire dresser had been toppled over and Peridot was lying near it.

“Legs don’t work.” She mumbles, and then whines as she’s sluggishly tries to reach for the dresser as a support to help her stand up.

“Yeah, that will happen.” Jasper replies casually, coming closer to her. She never thought what would happen when Peridot woke back up, but now she realizes her mate’s strength in her physical body had deteriorated from lack of use. “Come on. I’ve got you.”

**Author's Note:**

> My tumblr is Uchuuwrites


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